Smart Money Sentiment Says Oxford Industries, Inc. (OXM) May Be A Good Investment

The worries about the economic slowdown in China and the ongoing uncertainty about the path of interest-rate increases triggered several waves of equity sell-offs during the third quarter. Of course, most hedge funds and other asset managers had to stomach substantial losses during the bloody three-month period, which might have caused some to consider fleeing the U.S. equity markets. Interestingly, smaller-cap stocks registered higher losses than large-capitalization stocks during the September quarter, suggesting that institutional investors heavily discarded seemingly riskier equities amid high uncertainty and turmoil. In fact, the Russell 2000 Index lost 11.9% in the third quarter, while the Standard and Poor’s 500 benchmark declined a mere 6.4%. This article will lay out and discuss the hedge fund and institutional investor sentiment towards Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM).

Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM) was in 23 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. Oxford Industries, Inc. has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately. There were 21 hedge funds in our database with Oxford Industries, Inc. holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare Oxford Industries, Inc. to other stocks including Methode Electronics Inc. (NYSE:MEI), Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA), and Essendant Inc (NASDAQ:ESND) to get a better sense of its popularity.

Today there are several metrics investors employ to evaluate stocks. A pair of the most innovative metrics are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can outclass the broader indices by a healthy margin (see the details here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the new action regarding Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM).

How have hedgies been trading Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 23 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a 10% gain from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or had already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Daruma Asset Management, managed by Mariko Gordon, holds the biggest position in Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM). Daruma Asset Management has a $48.1 million position in the stock, comprising 3% of its 13F portfolio. On Daruma Asset Management’s heels is Gotham Asset Management, managed by Joel Greenblatt, which holds a $20.4 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism include Clifford Fox’s Columbus Circle Investors, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Renaissance Technologies.

Consequently, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Highbridge Capital Management, managed by Glenn Russell Dubin, initiated the most valuable position in Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM). Highbridge Capital Management had $5.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Neil Chriss’ Hutchin Hill Capital also initiated a $2.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Richard Driehaus’ Driehaus Capital, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, and Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Methode Electronics Inc. (NYSE:MEI), Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA), Essendant Inc (NASDAQ:ESND), and Chemical Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CHFC). This group of stocks’ market caps match Oxford Industries, Inc.’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 19 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $91 million. That figure was $164 million in Oxford Industries, Inc.’s case. Methode Electronics Inc. (NYSE:MEI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Chemical Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CHFC) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM) is tied for the most popular stock in this group, and is the only stock of the three that has rising sentiment in Q3. Coupled with the fact that it also has more money invested in it than any of the other stocks, and it looks like a good choice to consider a long position in.