Before we spend countless hours researching a company, we like to analyze what insiders, hedge funds and billionaire investors think of the stock first. This is a necessary first step in our investment process because our research has shown that the elite investors’ consensus returns have been exceptional. In the following paragraphs, we find out what the billionaire investors and hedge funds think of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL).
Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL) was in 26 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2019. JLL investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late. There were 23 hedge funds in our database with JLL holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that JLL isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
Hedge funds’ reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds’ large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the Russell 2000 ETFs by 40 percentage points since May 2014 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that’ll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 27.8% through November 21, 2019. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group
Unlike the largest US hedge funds that are convinced Dow will soar past 40,000 or the world’s most bearish hedge fund that’s more convinced than ever that a crash is coming, our long-short investment strategy doesn’t rely on bull or bear markets to deliver double digit returns. We only rely on the best performing hedge funds‘ buy/sell signals. We’re going to analyze the new hedge fund action encompassing Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL).
How have hedgies been trading Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2019, a total of 26 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 13% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 21 hedge funds with a bullish position in JLL a year ago. So, let’s check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds, Generation Investment Management held the most valuable stake in Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL), which was worth $664 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Ariel Investments which amassed $112.1 million worth of shares. Citadel Investment Group, Long Pond Capital, and Diamond Hill Capital were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Marlowe Partners allocated the biggest weight to Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL), around 7.69% of its portfolio. Generation Investment Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 4.69 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to JLL.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Marshall Wace, managed by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, initiated the largest position in Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL). Marshall Wace had $5.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital also made a $1.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, Phil Frohlich’s Prescott Group Capital Management, and John Murphy’s Levin Easterly Partners.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL). We will take a look at Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI), Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE:HUBB), FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR), and Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to JLL’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| ORI | 17 | 417709 | -4 |
| HUBB | 23 | 383354 | 5 |
| FLIR | 22 | 269438 | 2 |
| COLD | 27 | 472297 | -3 |
| Average | 22.25 | 385700 | 0 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 22.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $386 million. That figure was $1081 million in JLL’s case. Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE:JLL) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on JLL as the stock returned 19.9% during the fourth quarter (through the end of November) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
