Hedge Funds Are Dumping The Marcus Corporation (MCS)

The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS) was in 7 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. MCS has experienced a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with MCS positions at the end of the previous quarter.

To the average investor, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a solid amount (see just how much).

Equally as integral, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the key action regarding The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS).

How are hedge funds trading The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, holds the most valuable position in The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS). GAMCO Investors has a $13.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Gregg J. Powers of Private Capital Management, with a $10.1 million position; the fund has 1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Because The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of funds who were dropping their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital dropped the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we track, totaling about $0.4 million in stock. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How have insiders been trading The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS). These stocks are Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc (NYSE:PNK), Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI), Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD), Isle of Capri Casinos (NASDAQ:ISLE), and Bluegreen Corporation (NYSE:BXG). All of these stocks are in the resorts & casinos industry and their market caps are closest to MCS’s market cap.

With the results shown by our studies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds