Is Bristow Group Inc (BRS) A Good Stock To Buy?

A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS).

Is Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) an attractive investment today? Investors who are in the know seem to be turning bullish, as the number of investors tracked by Insider Monkey long the stock went up by three to 16 during the third quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare BRS to other stocks including Fidelity Southern Corporation (NASDAQ:LION), Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT), and CU Bancorp (NASDAQ:CUNB) to get a better sense of its popularity.

At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 18% gains over the past 12 months, more than doubling the 8% returns enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs.

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to analyze the latest action encompassing Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS).

Hedge fund activity in Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS)

During the third quarter, the number of investors from the Insider Monkey database holding long positions in Bristow Group advanced by 23% to 16. On the other hand, there were nine funds with a bullish position in BRS at the beginning of this year. So, let’s examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, John W. Rogers’ Ariel Investments holds the biggest position in Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS). Ariel Investments has a $145.7 million position in the stock, comprising 1.8% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management holding a $43.1 million position. Some other professional money managers that are bullish comprise Richard Mashaal’s Rima Senvest Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies. We should note that none of these hedge funds are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Robert Vollero and Gentry T. Beach’s Vollero Beach Capital Partners established the most outsized position in Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS). Vollero Beach Capital Partners had $1.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dan Sobol and Lisa Hess’ SkyTop Capital Management also initiated a $1.8 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new BRS investors: Robert Hockett’s Covalent Capital Partners, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Fidelity Southern Corporation (NASDAQ:LION), Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT), CU Bancorp (NASDAQ:CUNB), and Gladstone Commercial Corporation (NASDAQ:GOOD). This group of stocks’ market values match BRS’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of nine investors with bullish positions at the end of September and the average amount invested in these stocks was $43 million, versus $245 million in BRS’s case. Fidelity Southern Corporation (NASDAQ:LION) is the most popular stock in this table, while CU Bancorp (NASDAQ:CUNB) is the least popular one with only six bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) 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.

Disclosure: None