Is Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN) going to take off soon? Prominent investors are in a bullish mood. The number of long hedge fund bets improved by 3 in recent months.
Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action surrounding Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN).
What have hedge funds been doing with Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 25% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.
According to our comprehensive database, GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, holds the largest position in Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN). GAMCO Investors has a $31.7 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Luxor Capital Group, managed by Christian Leone, which held a $14 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Howard Guberman’s Gruss Asset Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.
As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Gruss Asset Management, managed by Howard Guberman, initiated the biggest position in Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN). Gruss Asset Management had 5.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also initiated a $0.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital, Mike Vranos’s Ellington, and John Burbank’s Passport Capital.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN)?
Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN). These stocks are A. H. Belo Corporation (NYSE:AHC), Daily Journal Corporation (NASDAQ:DJCO), Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG), The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP), and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI). All of these stocks are in the publishing – newspapers industry and their market caps resemble JRN’s market cap.
