W W Grainger Inc (GWW): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Due to the fact that W W Grainger Inc (NYSE:GWW) has faced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there exists a select few hedgies who sold off their positions entirely last quarter. Intriguingly, First Eagle Investment Management got rid of the largest stake of all the investors followed by Insider Monkey, valued at about $411.4 million in stock, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to a call position valued at about $5 million.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to W W Grainger Inc (NYSE:GWW). We will take a look at Loews Corporation (NYSE:L), Magna International Inc. (USA) (NYSE:MGA), United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL), and CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to GWW’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 35 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.21 billion. That figure was $187 million in GWW’s case. United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Loews Corporation (NYSE:L) is the least popular one with only 21 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks W W Grainger Inc (NYSE:GWW) is even less popular than Loews Corporation (NYSE:L). Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.