As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies established the most valuable position in Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT). Renaissance Technologies had $15.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Harding’s Winton Capital Management also made a $8.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT). These stocks are Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE:RS), US Foods Holding Corp(NYSE:USFD), W.R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA), and WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE:WCG). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to AVT’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| RS | 22 | 439539 | -5 |
| USFD | 22 | 502451 | -5 |
| GRA | 39 | 1326561 | -8 |
| WCG | 31 | 649423 | 1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 29 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $729 million. That figure was $743 million in AVT’s case. W.R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE:RS) is the least popular one with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) 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 GRA might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.
Disclosure: None
