Do Hedge Funds Love Veritiv Corp (VRTV)?

Due to the fact that Veritiv Corp (NYSE:VRTV) has witnessed falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there were a few funds who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Andre F. Perold’s HighVista Strategies said goodbye to the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $2.6 million in stock. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also dumped its holding, about $0.8 million worth of VRTV shares. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Veritiv Corp (NYSE:VRTV) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Unisys Corporation (NYSE:UIS), Monmouth R.E. Inv. Corp. (NYSE:MNR), Matrix Service Co (NASDAQ:MTRX), and Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRTG). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to VRTV’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $71 million. That figure was $122 million in VRTV’s case, which we consider to be a good sign. Matrix Service Co (NASDAQ:MTRX) is the most popular stock in this table, while Monmouth R.E. Inv. Corp. (NYSE:MNR) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Veritiv Corp (NYSE:VRTV) 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 MTRX might be a better candidate to consider a long position.