Do Hedge Funds Love Agrium Inc. (USA) (AGU)?

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Due to the fact that Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few fund managers who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies said goodbye to the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $11.6 million in stock. Michael Platt and William Reeves’s fund, BlueCrest Capital Mgmt, also dumped its stock, about $10.5 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 9 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU). We will take a look at Fidelity National Financial Inc (NYSE:FNF), FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FLT), AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME), and Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA). This group of stocks’ market valuations match AGU’s market valuation.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
FNF 47 2102715 0
FLT 52 4800114 -2
AME 16 624993 -2
AA 46 1589136 1

As you can see these stocks had an average of 40.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2,279 million. That figure was $1,183 million in AGU’s case. FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FLT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard FLT might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

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