After several tireless days we have finished crunching the numbers from the more than 700 13F filings issued by the elite hedge funds and other investment firms that we track at Insider Monkey, which disclosed those firms’ equity portfolios as of September 30. The results of that effort will be put on display in this article, as we share valuable insight into the smart money sentiment towards Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC).
Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund sentiment lately. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO), JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO), and Almost Family, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFAM) to gather more data points.
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According to most market participants, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, old financial tools of yesteryear. While there are greater than an 8000 funds in operation today, Our experts choose to focus on the aristocrats of this group, about 700 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people administer the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by observing their top equity investments, Insider Monkey has come up with a number of investment strategies that have historically defeated the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy defeated the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points annually for a decade in their back tests.
Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the latest action surrounding Rudolph Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:RTEC).
What have hedge funds been doing with Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 73% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates has the number one position in Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC), worth close to $22.3 million, corresponding to 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, with a $5.5 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other members of the smart money with similar optimism contain D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Now, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. PEAK6 Capital Management, managed by Matthew Hulsizer, created the most outsized call position in Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC). PEAK6 Capital Management had $3.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $1.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new RTEC investors: Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors, Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management, and Mike Vranos’ Ellington.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC) but similarly valued. These stocks are Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO), JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO), Almost Family, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFAM), and ORBCOMM Inc (NASDAQ:ORBC). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble RTEC’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEBO | 6 | 21262 | -2 |
| JASO | 5 | 16392 | -4 |
| AFAM | 13 | 71911 | 2 |
| ORBC | 10 | 104326 | -3 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $53 million. That figure was $46 million in RTEC’s case. Almost Family, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFAM) is the most popular stock in this table with 13 funds holding shares. On the other hand JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC) 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 include it in your portfolio.