Is MAG Silver Corporation (NYSE:MAG) a good stock to buy right now? We at Insider Monkey like to examine what billionaires and hedge funds think of a company before doing days of research on it. Given their 2 and 20 payment structure, hedge funds have more resources than the average investor. The funds have access to expert networks and get tips from industry insiders. They also have numerous Ivy League graduates and MBAs. Like everyone else, hedge funds perform miserably at times, but their consensus picks have historically outperformed the market after risk adjustments.
MAG Silver Corporation (NYSE:MAG) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest of late. MAG was in 13 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2018. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with MAG positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that mag isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
At the moment there are numerous indicators shareholders use to assess stocks. A duo of the most underrated indicators are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outpace the market by a very impressive amount (see the details here).
We’re going to check out the new hedge fund action regarding MAG Silver Corporation (NYSE:MAG).
What have hedge funds been doing with MAG Silver Corporation (NYSE:MAG)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 18% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards MAG over the last 13 quarters. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
More specifically, Sprott Asset Management was the largest shareholder of MAG Silver Corporation (NYSE:MAG), with a stake worth $7 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Sprott Asset Management was Vertex One Asset Management, which amassed a stake valued at $5.1 million. D E Shaw, Sun Valley Gold, and Royce & Associates were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, initiated the largest position in MAG Silver Corporation (NYSE:MAG). Renaissance Technologies had $0.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. George Zweig, Shane Haas and Ravi Chander’s Signition LP also made a $0.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to MAG Silver Corporation (NYSE:MAG). We will take a look at First Foundation Inc (NASDAQ:FFWM), Ingles Markets, Incorporated (NASDAQ:IMKTA), Care.com Inc (NYSE:CRCM), and Flushing Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FFIC). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to MAG’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| FFWM | 13 | 107757 | 1 |
| IMKTA | 10 | 51584 | 3 |
| CRCM | 19 | 184664 | -4 |
| FFIC | 8 | 49726 | -2 |
| Average | 12.5 | 98433 | -0.5 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 12.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $98 million. That figure was $27 million in MAG’s case. Care.com Inc (NYSE:CRCM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Flushing Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FFIC) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. MAG Silver Corporation (NYSE:MAG) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CRCM might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.