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. In this article we are going to take a look at smart money sentiment towards StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS).
StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. GASS investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 5 hedge funds in our database with GASS positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that GASS 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.
According to most stock holders, hedge funds are perceived as underperforming, old financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds trading today, Our experts hone in on the upper echelon of this group, around 850 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors command the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by following their first-class equity investments, Insider Monkey has discovered a few investment strategies that have historically defeated Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points a year 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 .
Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies
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 let’s take a peek at the recent hedge fund action encompassing StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS).
What does smart money think about StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS)?
Heading into the second quarter of 2020, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 20% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 6 hedge funds with a bullish position in GASS a year ago. So, let’s examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS) was held by Glendon Capital Management, which reported holding $13 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by MSDC Management with a $7.3 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Redwood Capital Management, Renaissance Technologies, and Royce & Associates. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Glendon Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS), around 4.25% of its 13F portfolio. MSDC Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 1.98 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to GASS.
As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, managed by Ryan Tolkin (CIO), assembled the largest position in StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS). Schonfeld Strategic Advisors had $0 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS). We will take a look at Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE), Axcella Health Inc. (NASDAQ:AXLA), Genprex, Inc. (NASDAQ:GNPX), and Happiness Biotech Group Limited (NASDAQ:HAPP). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble GASS’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| JE | 4 | 5107 | -3 |
| AXLA | 2 | 318 | -1 |
| GNPX | 2 | 164 | 0 |
| HAPP | 2 | 171 | 2 |
| Average | 2.5 | 1440 | -0.5 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 2.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1 million. That figure was $30 million in GASS’s case. Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Axcella Health Inc. (NASDAQ:AXLA) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS) is more popular among hedge funds. 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 returned 13.9% in 2020 through June 10th but still managed to beat the market by 14.2 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on GASS as the stock returned 51.8% so far in Q2 (through June 10th) and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were clearly right about piling into this stock relative to other stocks with similar market capitalizations.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
