Stockbridge Partners Increases Advanced Drainage Systems Stake

Stockbridge Partners has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Advanced Drainage Systems (WMS).  Per the filing, Stockbridge now owns 6.9% of the company with over 3.66 million shares.

This is up from the 2.86 million shares they owned at the end of the second quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on August 18th.

Some of their other holdings include Transdigm (TDG), Markwest Energy (MWE), Charter Communications (CHTR), LPL Financial (LPLA), Wabco (WBC), among others.


About Stockbridge Partners

This is the first time we've featured Stockbridge.  It's part of the Berkshire Partners umbrella, a private equity firm.  Per their website, Stockbridge takes "positions in public securities with a bias toward being long-term investors, focusing on high quality companies that exhibit earnings sustainability and growth.  We accept short-term volatility - and in many cases, view price fluctuations more as opportunities than as risks."  It was launched in 2007 and manages over $2 billion with Robert Small directing the group.


About Advanced Drainage Systems

Per Google Finance, Advanced Drainage Systems is "a designer, manufacturer and marketer of high performance thermoplastic corrugated pipe and related water management products, primarily in North and South America and Europe. The Company is managed based primarily on the geographies in which it operates and reports results of operations in two reportable segments Domestic and International. The Company’s products are used across a range of end markets and applications, including non-residential, residential, agriculture and infrastructure applications. The Company’s product line includes corrugated high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe, polypropylene (PP) pipe and related water management products."

12 West Capital Boosts Advanced Drainage Systems Stake

Joel Ramin's hedge fund firm 12 West Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding its stake in Advanced Drainage Systems (WMS).  Per the filing, 12 West now owns 6.1% of the company with over 3.24 million shares.

They've increased their position size by over 1.73 million shares since the end of the third quarter.  The filing was required due to portfolio activity on December 4th.

For more from this hedge fund, we posted up some other recent portfolio activity from 12 West here.

Per Google Finance, Advanced Drainage Systems is "a manufacturer of thermoplastic corrugated pipe, providing a comprehensive suite of water management products and superior drainage solutions for use in the construction and infrastructure marketplace. The Company’s products are used across a range of end markets and applications, including non-residential, residential, agriculture and infrastructure applications."

Insider Buying: CEO's Buying Stock En Masse

There has been an increased amount of insider buying over the past few days. But what caught our eye in particular was the vast amount of CEO's that were buying.

To pull all this data, we used Insider Trade Reports who says that "over four decades of academic research has shown that by following in the footsteps of company insiders and buying the stocks that they are buying, you can outperform the market by 6% to 10.2% per year."

As CEO's bought into the recent market sell-off, it's clear they believe the market was undervaluing their companies.

List of Recent CEO Insider Buying

- Six Flags Entertainment (SIX) CEO buys $2,499,189 worth

- Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO buys $2,062,070 worth

- Fifth Street Finance (FSC) CEO buys $2,014,323 worth

- Huntsman (HUN) CEO buys $1,137,270 worth

- WMS Industries (WMS) CEO buys $1,000,224 worth

- General Growth Properties (GGP) CEO buys $856,489 worth

- Kinder Morgan (KMI) CEO buys $679,621 worth

- First Industrial Realty Trust (FR) CEO buys $642,000 worth

- Winthrop Realty Trust (FUR) CEO buys $589,550 worth

- Tupperware Brands (TUP) CEO buys $507,045 worth

- Life Technologies (LIFE) CEO buys $420,000 worth

- Greenbrier Companies (GBX) CEO buys $268,705 worth

- Kansas City Southern (KSU) CEO buys $253,050 worth

- AK Steel (AKS) CEO buys $199,030 worth


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You can choose how often you receive insider buying/selling alerts (daily, weekly, high conviction reports) which is a great feature. They also have a proprietary scale that measures the significance of each transaction with commentary to provide context.

We've been using Insider Trade Reports for months now and it's a very useful resource for investors so take advantage of the discount.