Hedge Funds Beating A Hasty Retreat From Monsanto Company (MON)

Seeing as Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) has faced a decline in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there exists a select few money managers who were dropping their entire positions by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital dropped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, worth about $1.12 billion in stock, and Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $286.8 million worth of shares. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 10 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK), Public Storage (NYSE:PSA), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), and Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL). This group of stocks’ market values match MON’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 38.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.96 billion. That figure was $3.68 billion in MON’s case. Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) is the least popular one with only 23 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio, bearing in mind that it’s now a merger arb play.

Disclosure: None