Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months.
In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of methods shareholders can use to track their holdings. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can beat their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).
Just as important, positive insider trading activity is another way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of reasons for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action encompassing Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC).
How are hedge funds trading Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC)?
At year’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.
According to our comprehensive database, Platinum Asset Management, managed by Kerr Neilson, holds the most valuable position in Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC). Platinum Asset Management has a $54.9 million position in the stock, comprising 1.2% of its 13F portfolio. On Platinum Asset Management’s heels is Gates Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Gates, which held a $31.6 million position; 2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Jonathan Kolatch’s Redwood Capital Management, Michael Johnston’s Steelhead Partners and John Fichthorn’s Dialectic Capital Management.
How are insiders trading Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC)?
Insider buying is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) has experienced 2 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC). These stocks are P.H. Glatfelter Company (NYSE:GLT), Boise Inc. (NYSE:BZ), Orchids Paper Products Company (NYSEAMEX:TIS), Wausau Paper Corp. (NYSE:WPP), and Neenah Paper, Inc. (NYSE:NP). This group of stocks are in the paper & paper products industry and their market caps are similar to MERC’s market cap.
