Here Is What Hedge Funds Think of United Rentals, Inc. (URI)

As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds have jumped into United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) headfirst. Marcato Capital Management, managed by Richard McGuire, assembled the most valuable position in United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI). Marcato Capital Management had $121.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group also made a $29.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Capital Management, Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, and Clint Murray’s Lodge Hill Capital.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Tableau Software Inc (NYSE:DATA), Commscope Holding Company Inc (NASDAQ:COMM), The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL), and HD Supply Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:HDS). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to URI’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 39.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1,242 million. That figure was $783 million in URI’s case. HD Supply Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:HDS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard HDS might be a better candidate to consider a long position.