Hedge Funds Are Selling Caesars Entertainment Corp (CZR)

What’s a smart Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR) investor to do?

In the financial world, there are a multitude of metrics market participants can use to watch publicly traded companies. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as crucial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the financial markets. There are a variety of reasons for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

Thus, it’s important to study the newest info surrounding Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR).

How have hedgies been trading Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -14% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

According to our 13F database, Paulson & Co, managed by John Paulson, holds the most valuable position in Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR). Paulson & Co has a $164.7 million position in the stock, comprising 1.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by George Soros of Soros Fund Management, with a $82 million position; the fund has 0.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Howard Marks’s Oaktree Capital Management, Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors and Joshua Friedman and Mitchell Julis’s Canyon Capital Advisors.

Because Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR) has experienced declining interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of hedgies who sold off their positions entirely last quarter. At the top of the heap, Daniel Lewis’s Orange Capital cut the largest position of the 450+ funds we key on, valued at an estimated $7 million in stock. Martin Whitman’s fund, Third Avenue Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $4.2 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR). These stocks are Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc (NYSE:PNK), Ameristar Casinos, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASCA), Penn National Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:PENN), Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp (NYSE:VAC), and Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN). This group of stocks are in the resorts & casinos industry and their market caps resemble CZR’s market cap.