Do Hedge Funds Love OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (OMN)?

The 700+ hedge funds and money managers tracked by Insider Monkey have already compiled and submitted their 13F filings for the third quarter, which unveil their equity positions as of September 30. We went through these filings, fixed typos and other more significant errors and identified the changes in hedge fund positions. Our extensive review of these public filings is finally over, so this article is set to reveal the smart money sentiment towards OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE:OMN).

OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE:OMN)’s stock was losing ground in the third quarter, but the funds we track remained bullish on the stock. Moreover, it registered an increase in support from the funds we track. The company was in 14 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. At the end of this article we will also compare OMN to other stocks including Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCLR), Tucows Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:TCX), and Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLB) to get a better sense of its popularity.

At the moment there are a large number of indicators investors can use to size up publicly traded companies. Some of the less utilized indicators are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see the details here).

Now, let’s take a look at the key action encompassing OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE:OMN).

How are hedge funds trading OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE:OMN)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, up by two funds over the quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, holds the number one position in OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE:OMN). GAMCO Investors has an $6.8 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund is Peter Schliemann’s Rutabaga Capital Management, with an $3.5 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other members of the smart money with similar optimism include Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors, and George Hall’s Clinton Group.