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. We have processed the filings of the more than 700 world-class investment firms that we track and now have access to the collective wisdom contained in these filings, which are based on their September 30 holdings, data that is available nowhere else. Should you consider Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLB) for your portfolio? We’ll look to this invaluable collective wisdom for the answer.
Is Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLB) an outstanding investment today? The smart money is selling. The number of long hedge fund positions shrunk by 2 lately. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Territorial Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:TBNK), Armada Hoffler Properties Inc (NYSE:AHH), and CIBER, Inc. (NYSE:CBR) to gather more data points.
Follow Westmoreland Coal Co (NASDAQ:WLB)
Follow Westmoreland Coal Co (NASDAQ:WLB)
To the average investor there are a multitude of signals stock market investors use to size up stocks. A couple of the best signals are hedge fund and insider trading signals. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see the details here).
Now, let’s take a gander at the fresh action surrounding Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLB).
What have hedge funds been doing with Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLB)?
Heading into Q4, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a drop of 10% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Jeffrey Bersh and Michael Wartell’s Venor Capital Management has the biggest position in Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLB), worth close to $16 million, accounting for 6.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Venor Capital Management’s heels is Millennium Management, led by Israel Englander, holding a $11.2 million position; the fund has less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining professional money managers that hold long positions comprise Jeffrey Gendell’s Tontine Asset Management, Andy Rebak and Michael Scott’s Farmstead Capital Management and Adam Fox and Samuel Elder’s Altalis Capital Partners.
Due to the fact that Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLB) has witnessed declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of money managers that slashed their entire stakes heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Dan Sobol and Lisa Hess’s SkyTop Capital Management said goodbye to the biggest position of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $4.9 million in stock. Michael Reeber’s fund, Andalusian Capital Partners, also said goodbye to its stake, about $4.3 million worth of WLB shares. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds heading into Q4.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLB) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Territorial Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:TBNK), Armada Hoffler Properties Inc (NYSE:AHH), CIBER, Inc. (NYSE:CBR), and OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSUR). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to WLB’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| TBNK | 8 | 21595 | 1 |
| AHH | 12 | 24000 | 1 |
| CBR | 10 | 23908 | -1 |
| OSUR | 25 | 38572 | 4 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $27 million. That figure was $96 million in WLB’s case. OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSUR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Territorial Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:TBNK) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Westmoreland Coal Company (NASDAQ:WLB) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard OSUR might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
