We at Insider Monkey have gone over 700 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the government. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC) based on that data.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC) was in 37 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. HMHC shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late. There were 34 hedge funds in our database with HMHC holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare HMHC to other stocks, including Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR), Care Capital Properties Inc (NYSE:CCP), and Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc (NYSE:SHO) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC)
Follow Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC)
In the financial world, there are plenty of indicators that market participants can use to analyze their stock investments. A couple of the less utilized indicators are hedge fund and insider trading interest. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can outpace the market by a healthy amount (see the details here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the latest action encompassing Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC).
How have hedgies been trading Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 37 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 9% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Anchorage Advisors, managed by Kevin Michael Ulrich and Anthony Davis, holds the largest position in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC). Anchorage Advisors has a $408 million position in the stock, comprising 13.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Stephen V. Raneri’s LionEye Capital Management, with a $114.9 million position; 4.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other members of the smart money that are bullish include Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital, Jonathan Savitz’s Greywolf Capital Management and Glenn J. Krevlin’s Glenhill Advisors.
As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Segantii Capital, managed by Simon Sadler, assembled the most outsized position in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC). Segantii Capital had $22.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC also made a $11.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new HMHC investors: Renaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC). We will take a look at Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR), Care Capital Properties Inc (NYSE:CCP), Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc (NYSE:SHO), and Bank of Hawaii Corporation (NYSE:BOH). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to HMHC’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| BRKR | 20 | 137638 | 5 |
| CCP | 13 | 106887 | 13 |
| SHO | 10 | 64209 | -5 |
| BOH | 7 | 33901 | 0 |
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 $86 million. That figure was $1.03 billion in HMHC’s case. Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) is the most popular stock in this table with 20 funds disclosing stakes as of September 30. On the other hand Bank of Hawaii Corporation (NYSE:BOH) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC) 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 acquire shares for your portfolio
