Judging by the fact that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedge funds who sold off their full holdings heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $267.6 million in stock, and Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $35.4 million worth of MLM shares. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds heading into Q4.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM). These stocks are Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA), Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC), Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO), and Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to MLM’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA | 34 | 2328194 | -4 |
| CNC | 22 | 333094 | -10 |
| TSCO | 25 | 475375 | -4 |
| ADSK | 38 | 4560266 | 3 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 30 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.92 billion. That figure was $1.22 billion in MLM’s case. Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) is the least popular one with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard ADSK might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
Disclosure: none.
