Legendary investors such as Leon Cooperman and Seth Klarman earn enormous amounts of money for themselves and their investors by doing in-depth research on small-cap stocks that big brokerage houses don’t publish. Small cap stocks -especially when they are screened well- can generate substantial outperformance versus a boring index fund. That’s why we analyze the activity of those elite funds in these small-cap stocks. In the following paragraphs, we analyze Pentair, Ltd. Registered Share (NYSE:PNR) from the perspective of those elite funds.
Is Pentair, Ltd. Registered Share (NYSE:PNR) a buy, sell, or hold? Prominent investors are buying. The number of long hedge fund positions inched up by 4 in recent months. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Ultrapar Participacoes SA (ADR) (NYSE:UGP), Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP), and Delhaize Group (ADR) (NYSE:DEG) to gather more data points.
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With all of this in mind, let’s take a glance at the latest action encompassing Pentair, Ltd. Registered Share (NYSE:PNR).
What have hedge funds been doing with Pentair, Ltd. Registered Share (NYSE:PNR)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 23 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 21% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Trian Partners, managed by Nelson Peltz, holds the most valuable position in Pentair, Ltd. Registered Share (NYSE:PNR). Trian Partners has a $663.8 million position in the stock, comprising 5.7% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Glenview Capital, managed by Larry Robbins, which holds a $281.4 million position; 1.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other professional money managers with similar optimism encompass Ian Simm’s Impax Asset Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Jay Petschek and Steven Major’s Corsair Capital Management.
As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, created the largest position in Pentair, Ltd. Registered Share (NYSE:PNR). Millennium Management had $5.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also initiated a $4.8 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new PNR investors: Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, and George Hall’s Clinton Group.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Pentair, Ltd. Registered Share (NYSE:PNR) but similarly valued. These stocks are Ultrapar Participacoes SA (ADR) (NYSE:UGP), Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP), Delhaize Group (ADR) (NYSE:DEG), and Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP). All of these stocks’ market caps match PNR’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| UGP | 6 | 83924 | 0 |
| MCHP | 24 | 151662 | 7 |
| DEG | 5 | 36780 | -4 |
| TRIP | 43 | 1006394 | 3 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 19.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $320 million. That figure was $1081 million in PNR’s case. Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Delhaize Group (ADR) (NYSE:DEG) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Pentair, Ltd. Registered Share (NYSE:PNR) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal and makes PNR worth a closer look.
