Is Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST) a good investment?
In the eyes of many of your fellow readers, hedge funds are assumed to be overrated, outdated financial vehicles of an era lost to time. Although there are over 8,000 hedge funds trading currently, this site focuses on the moguls of this group, around 525 funds. It is widely held that this group controls the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total assets, and by monitoring their highest performing picks, we’ve formulated a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we‘ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).
Equally as crucial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the marketplace. There are plenty of stimuli for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if you understand what to do (learn more here).
What’s more, let’s study the recent info about Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST).
What does the smart money think about Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 40% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Scout Capital Management, managed by James Crichton and Adam Weiss, holds the largest position in Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST). Scout Capital Management has a $110.1 million position in the stock, comprising 1.8% of its 13F portfolio. On Scout Capital Management’s heels is John Paulson of Paulson & Co, with a $53.9 million position; the fund has 0.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Brian Bares’s Bares Capital Management and Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management.
With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Scout Capital Management, managed by James Crichton and Adam Weiss, assembled the largest position in Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST). Scout Capital Management had 110.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Paulson’s Paulson & Co also made a $53.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Brian Bares’s Bares Capital Management, and Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management.
Insider trading activity in Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST)
Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST). These stocks are The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV), Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC), Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOLE), Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM), and Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFM). All of these stocks are in the food – major diversified industry and their market caps match POST’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOLE) | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFM) | 19 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s strategies, average investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST) is no exception.
