Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (AHT): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Hedge Funds and other institutional investors have just completed filing their 13Fs with the Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing their equity portfolios as of the end of September. At Insider Monkey, we follow over 700 of the best-performing investors and by analyzing their 13F filings, we can determine the stocks that they are collectively bullish on. One of their picks is Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT), so let’s take a closer look at the sentiment that surrounds it in the current quarter.

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. AHT investors should be aware of a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 20 hedge funds in our database with AHT holdings at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as General Cable Corporation (NYSE:BGC), Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI), and ConnectOne Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CNOB) to gather more data points.

Today there are a lot of indicators stock traders have at their disposal to grade their stock investments. A duo of the less known indicators are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a healthy amount (see the details here).

With all of this in mind, let’s go over the latest action regarding Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT).

How are hedge funds trading Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -10% from the second quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Michael Thompson’s BHR Capital has the number one position in Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT), worth close to $17.1 million, comprising 2.5% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Rutabaga Capital Management, led by Peter Schliemann, holding a $14.1 million position; 1.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other professional money managers with similar optimism include J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies and Steve Pei’s Gratia Capital.

Seeing as Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there were a few fund managers that decided to sell off their full holdings heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Parag Vora’s HG Vora Capital Management sold off the biggest stake of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $54.1 million in stock, and Geoffrey Raynor’s Q Investments (Specter Holdings) was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $3.3 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) but similarly valued. We will take a look at General Cable Corporation (NYSE:BGC), Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI), ConnectOne Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CNOB), and Nevsun Resources (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NSU). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to AHT’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $50 million, versus $81 million in AHT’s case. General Cable Corporation (NYSE:BGC) is the most popular stock in this table with 16 funds reporting shares. On the other hand, ConnectOne Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CNOB) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.