Clean Harbors Inc (CLH): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

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Is Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH) a good investment?

In today’s marketplace, there are many metrics shareholders can use to analyze Mr. Market. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outpace the market by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as necessary, bullish insider trading activity is another way to look at the world of equities. There are plenty of reasons for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).

Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH)

Furthermore, we’re going to examine the newest info about Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH).

What does the smart money think about Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital had the largest position in Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH), worth close to $37.3 million, accounting for 2.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Impax Asset Management, managed by Ian Simm, which held a $37.1 million position; the fund has 4.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include James A. Noonan’s Pivot Point Capital, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Richard S. Meisenberg’s ACK Asset Management.

As Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH) has faced dropping sentiment from the smart money’s best and brightest, logic holds that there exists a select few hedgies that slashed their entire stakes in Q1. At the top of the heap, Scott Scher & Michael Prober’s Clovis Capital Management sold off the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, valued at an estimated $8.6 million in stock. Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider’s fund, SG Capital Management, also sold off its stock, about $7.7 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Insider trading activity in Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH)

Insider buying is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH). These stocks are Veolia Environnement SA (ADR) (NYSE:VE), Darling International Inc. (NYSE:DAR), Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd (USA) (NYSE:BIN), Covanta Holding Corporation (NYSE:CVA), and Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN). This group of stocks belong to the waste management industry and their market caps match CLH’s market cap.

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