The government requires hedge funds and wealthy investors with over a certain portfolio size to file a report that shows their positions at the end of every quarter. Even though it isn’t the intention, these filings level the playing field for ordinary investors. The latest round of 13F filings discloses the funds’ positions on September 30. We at Insider Monkey have made an extensive database of more than 700 of those elite funds and prominent investors’ filings. In this article, we analyze how these elite funds and prominent investors traded TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) based on those filings.
TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) was in 8 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. TICC has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with TICC positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare TICC to other stocks including Stonegate Bank (NASDAQ:SGBK), Noodles & Co (NASDAQ:NDLS), and Century Aluminum Co (NASDAQ:CENX) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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Now, let’s view the new action encompassing TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC).
Hedge fund activity in TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC)
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -11% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, William C. Martin’s Raging Capital Management has the most valuable position in TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC), worth close to $16.5 million, amounting to 2.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Mangrove Partners, led by Nathaniel August, holding a $4.6 million position; the fund has 1.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money that are bullish encompass Bernard Selz’s Selz Capital, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and GLG Partners.
Judging by the fact that TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there were a few funds that elected to cut their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dumped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $1.1 million in stock, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.2 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds last quarter.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC). We will take a look at Stonegate Bank (NASDAQ:SGBK), Noodles & Co (NASDAQ:NDLS), Century Aluminum Co (NASDAQ:CENX), and Ashford Hospitality Prime Inc (NYSE:AHP). This group of stocks’ market caps match TICC’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| SGBK | 9 | 10794 | 1 |
| NDLS | 7 | 14840 | -2 |
| CENX | 14 | 25847 | -10 |
| AHP | 14 | 72741 | 1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $31 million. That figure was $29 million in TICC’s case. Century Aluminum Co (NASDAQ:CENX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Noodles & Co (NASDAQ:NDLS) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CENX might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
