Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love MFC Industrial Ltd (MIL)?

Is MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE:MIL) a splendid investment now? The smart money is taking a bearish view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of metrics shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. Some of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of motivations for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a gander at the latest action surrounding MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE:MIL).

What does the smart money think about MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE:MIL)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Nantahala Capital Management, managed by Wilmot B. Harkey and Daniel Mack, holds the biggest position in MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE:MIL). Nantahala Capital Management has a $12.4 million position in the stock, comprising 2% of its 13F portfolio. On Nantahala Capital Management’s heels is Nantahala Capital Management, managed by Wilmot B. Harkey and Daniel Mack, which held a $7 million call position; 1.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates.

Judging by the fact that MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE:MIL) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedge funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely in Q1. Intriguingly, Zeke Ashton’s Centaur Capital Partners cut the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, totaling about $0.8 million in stock.. Whitney Tilson’s fund, T2 Partners, also dropped its stock, about $0.6 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How have insiders been trading MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE:MIL)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time frame, MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE:MIL) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE:MIL). These stocks are McEwen Mining Inc (NYSE:MUX), Taseko Mines Limited (USA) (NYSEAMEX:TGB), Denison Mines Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:DNN), Materion Corp (NYSE:MTRN), and Platinum Group Metals Limited (USA) (NYSEAMEX:PLG). This group of stocks belong to the industrial metals & minerals industry and their market caps are closest to MIL’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by our studies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE:MIL) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds