Concerns over rising interest rates and expected further rate increases have hit several stocks hard since the end of the third quarter. NASDAQ and Russell 2000 indices are already in correction territory. More importantly, Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) underperformed the larger S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by about 4 percentage points in the first half of the fourth quarter. Hedge funds and institutional investors tracked by Insider Monkey usually invest a disproportionate amount of their portfolios in smaller cap stocks. We have been receiving indications that hedge funds were paring back their overall exposure and this is one of the factors behind the recent movements in major indices. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT).
Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT) has experienced an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. Our calculations also showed that MANT isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
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Let’s go over the recent hedge fund action surrounding Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT).
How have hedgies been trading Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2018, a total of 14 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 17% from the second quarter of 2018. By comparison, 19 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in MANT heading into this year. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
More specifically, Millennium Management was the largest shareholder of Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT), with a stake worth $5 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Millennium Management was Citadel Investment Group, which amassed a stake valued at $4.6 million. Marshall Wace LLP, AQR Capital Management, and Horizon Asset Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
As aggregate interest increased, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Marshall Wace LLP, managed by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, created the most valuable position in Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT). Marshall Wace LLP had $3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt. also initiated a $0.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MANT positions are Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT). We will take a look at Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB), Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited (NYSE:AHL), Edgewell Personal Care Company (NYSE:EPC), and Mimecast Limited (NASDAQ:MIME). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to MANT’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEB | 11 | 106107 | 0 |
| AHL | 20 | 447059 | -4 |
| EPC | 18 | 264616 | -3 |
| MIME | 26 | 540249 | 6 |
| Average | 18.75 | 339508 | -0.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 18.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $340 million. That figure was $21 million in MANT’s case. Mimecast Limited (NASDAQ:MIME) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard MIME might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
