Mueller Industries, Inc. (MLI): Mega-Fund Manager Mario Gabelli Boosts Its Stake

A market-moving update, Mario Gabelli’s Gamco Investors reported a buy of 518,461 shares of Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI) in a 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Altogether, the position in Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI) is now valued at close to $41.5 million, an increase of 175.5%.

Looking at the entire picture, 13Ds tell us the intentions of activist hedge fund managers. These members of the “investing elite” are the most widely covered in the investment world, and look to tweak to an already standing business model.

In layman’s terms, it’s very important for average investors to pay attention to Mario Gabelli’s recent trade into Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI).

Despite the fact that most shareholders keep a close eye on a wide range of equity-based indicators, there is one that is often overlooked: aggregate hedge fund sentiment.

Empirical studies have discovered that retail investors who follow the funds we track can outperform the general indices by an average of 18 percentage points per year (see the details here).

Focusing in on Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI), our records indicate that 26 other hedge funds were invested in Mueller Industries at the end of last quarter. In particular, Jeffrey Gates’ Gates Gates Capital Management with 1,031,052 shares, David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Irridian Asset Management holding 643,569 shares, and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates with 719,662 shares, were long in Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI), which is some of the top peers a money manager can keep.

Furthermore, we must mention some other stocks in Gamco Investors‘ equity portfolio, in addition to Mueller. As follows, they include DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV), American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) and Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. (REIT) (NYSE:RHP), and are discussed on on the following page: