Is iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI) A Good Stock To Buy?

As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds have jumped into iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (NASDAQ:ACWI) headfirst. Cantillon Capital Management assembled the most valuable position in iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (NASDAQ:ACWI) which had $107.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made a $1.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Louis Navellier’s Navellier & Associates.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (NASDAQ:ACWI) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON), East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC), Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO), and CBOE Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ:CBOE). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble ACWI’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $311 million. That figure was $169 million in ACWI’s case. CBOE Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ:CBOE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund (NASDAQ:ACWI) is even less popular than SON. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: None