Matson, Inc. (MATX): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Judging by the fact that Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) has weathered a decline in interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of funds that decided to sell off their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies got rid of the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, worth about $9.5 million in stock. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s fund, Marshall Wace LLP, also dumped its stock, about $2.4 million worth.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX). These stocks are NxStage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTM), Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE:CEQP), Rexford Industrial Realty Inc (NYSE:REXR), and TopBuild Corp (NYSE:BLD). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to MATX’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 16 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $168 million. That figure was $22 million in MATX’s case. NxStage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE:CEQP) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Matson, Inc.(NYSE:MATX) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard NXTM might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None