The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. Insider Monkey finished processing 821 13F filings submitted by hedge funds and prominent investors. These filings show these funds’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, 2020. What do these smart investors think about Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE:LCTX)?
Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE:LCTX) has seen an increase in hedge fund sentiment lately. Our calculations also showed that LCTX isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be unimportant, outdated financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation today, We look at the upper echelon of this group, approximately 850 funds. These investment experts manage bulk of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by tailing their highest performing stock picks, Insider Monkey has come up with numerous investment strategies that have historically outstripped the market. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy exceeded the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points annually since its inception in March 2017. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 36% since February 2017 (through May 18th) even though the market was up 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 8 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
Nathan Fischel of DAFNA Capital Management
At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, 2020’s unprecedented market conditions provide us with the highest number of trading opportunities in a decade. So we are checking out stocks recommended/scorned by legendary Bill Miller. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. If you want to find out the best healthcare stock to buy right now, you can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind we’re going to analyze the new hedge fund action regarding Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE:LCTX).
What does smart money think about Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE:LCTX)?
Heading into the second quarter of 2020, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 20% from the fourth quarter of 2019. On the other hand, there were a total of 4 hedge funds with a bullish position in LCTX a year ago. So, let’s review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE:LCTX) was held by Broadwood Capital, which reported holding $28.2 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by Renaissance Technologies with a $0.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Two Sigma Advisors, Winton Capital Management, and DAFNA Capital Management. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Broadwood Capital allocated the biggest weight to Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE:LCTX), around 3.29% of its 13F portfolio. DAFNA Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 0.03 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to LCTX.
As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Renaissance Technologies, assembled the biggest position in Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE:LCTX). Renaissance Technologies had $0.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE:LCTX) but similarly valued. These stocks are Oil States International, Inc. (NYSE:OIS), Hebron Technology Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:HEBT), Mistras Group, Inc. (NYSE:MG), and American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:AMSC). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to LCTX’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| OIS | 12 | 4777 | -1 |
| HEBT | 1 | 1124 | 0 |
| MG | 13 | 11507 | -2 |
| AMSC | 10 | 18917 | -1 |
| Average | 9 | 9081 | -1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
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 $9 million. That figure was $29 million in LCTX’s case. Mistras Group, Inc. (NYSE:MG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Hebron Technology Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:HEBT) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE:LCTX) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 13.9% in 2020 through June 10th and still beat the market by 14.2 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on LCTX as the stock returned 28.9% during the second quarter and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
