Is Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR) a worthy investment now? Prominent investors are becoming less hopeful. The number of bullish hedge fund bets went down by 1 lately.
In the financial world, there are plenty of indicators shareholders can use to analyze stocks. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of motivations for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Now, let’s take a look at the recent action surrounding Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR).
What does the smart money think about Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 29 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -3% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.
Of the funds we track, John H. Scully’s SPO Advisory Corp had the biggest position in Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR), worth close to $392 million billion, comprising 6.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Luxor Capital Group, managed by Christian Leone, which held a $266 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Richard Perry’s Perry Capital, David Abrams’s Abrams Capital Management and Mason Hawkins’s Southeastern Asset Management.
Judging by the fact that Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR) has faced a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there is a sect of hedgies that slashed their full holdings at the end of the year. Interestingly, Christopher Lord’s Criterion Capital cut the largest investment of the 450+ funds we track, comprising an estimated $10 million in stock., and SAC Subsidiary of CR Intrinsic Investors was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds at the end of the year.
What have insiders been doing with Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns shown by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
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