Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Mobile Mini Inc (MINI)

Is Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) a sound investment now? The best stock pickers are taking a bullish view. The number of long hedge fund positions inched up by 1 lately.

At the moment, there are many gauges market participants can use to track publicly traded companies. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can trounce the market by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Obviously, there are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, let’s take a glance at the recent action encompassing Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI).

Hedge fund activity in Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI)

Heading into Q2, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 13% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital had the most valuable position in Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI), worth close to $7.9 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $3 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Ellington, managed by Mike Vranos, created the largest position in Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI). Ellington had 0.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also initiated a $0.2 million position during the quarter.

How have insiders been trading Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI). These stocks are AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR), Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON), Silgan Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SLGN), Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK), and Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF). All of these stocks are in the packaging & containers industry and their market caps are similar to MINI’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) 9 0 6
Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) 11 0 10
Silgan Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SLGN) 15 0 8
Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) 28 0 10
Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) 9 0 0

With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s strategies, everyday investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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