Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (MTD)

With the third-quarter round of 13F filings behind us it is time to take a look at the stocks in which some of the best money managers in the world preferred to invest or sell heading into the fourth quarter. One of these stocks was Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD).

Is Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) ready to rally soon? Investors who are in the know are getting more optimistic. The number of bullish hedge fund bets increased by 10 in recent months. MTD was in 21 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with MTD positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare MTD to other stocks, including KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC), Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG), and Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) to get a better sense of its popularity.

To the average investor there are many tools shareholders have at their disposal to size up publicly traded companies. Two of the most underrated tools are hedge fund and insider trading activity. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see the details here).

Now, let’s analyze the recent action surrounding Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD).

What does the smart money think about Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 21 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 91% from the second quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group has the biggest position in Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD), worth close to $269.2 million, comprising 2.6% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund is Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, with a $16.9 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining professional money managers that are bullish consist of Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management, and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.