In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, old investment tools of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the top tier of this club, about 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group has its hands on most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tracking their highest performing picks, we have deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).
Just as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the financial markets. There are plenty of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a look at the key action regarding Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO).
What have hedge funds been doing with Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -18% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Joshua Friedman and Mitchell Julis’s Canyon Capital Advisors had the largest position in Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO), worth close to $35.1 million, accounting for 5.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Kenneth Mario Garschina of Mason Capital Management, with a $31.3 million position; 0.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include David Abrams’s Abrams Capital Management, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors and Meridee A. Moore’s Watershed Asset Management.
Seeing as Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO) has faced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of hedgies that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, John M. Angelo and Michael L. Gordon’s Angelo Gordon & Co dropped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, valued at an estimated $10.1 million in stock., and Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into Q2.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO). These stocks are Millennial Media, Inc. (NYSE:MM), MDC Partners Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:MDCA), National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI), Valassis Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCI), and Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB). This group of stocks are the members of the marketing services industry and their market caps are closest to CCO’s market cap.
