What’s a smart Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT) investor to do?
In the financial world, there are dozens of methods investors can use to watch the equity markets. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outclass the broader indices by a superb margin (see just how much).
Just as crucial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of reasons for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).
What’s more, let’s discuss the latest info about Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT).
What have hedge funds been doing with Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -8% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the largest position in Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT). Renaissance Technologies has a $119.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Legg Mason Capital Management, managed by Bill Miller, which held a $9.4 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
Since Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT) has faced dropping sentiment from the smart money’s best and brightest, logic holds that there was a specific group of funds that elected to cut their positions entirely last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital cut the largest stake of all the hedgies we track, totaling close to $9.8 million in stock, and Mike Vranos of Ellington was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $1 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds last quarter.
Insider trading activity in Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT)
Insider buying made by high-level executives is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT). These stocks are Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET), Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK), SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW), JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU), and Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA (ADR) (NYSE:GOL). This group of stocks are in the regional airlines industry and their market caps are similar to ALGT’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET) | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) | 31 | 0 | 0 |
| SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU) | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA (ADR) (NYSE:GOL) | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results explained by our studies, regular investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
