Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and successful value investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds’ and successful investors’ positions as of the end of the first quarter. You can find articles about an individual hedge fund’s trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves over the last 4.5 years and analyze what the smart money thinks of Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) based on that data.
Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) was in 28 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. KGC has seen an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. There were 25 hedge funds in our database with KGC positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that KGC 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.
To the average investor there are a lot of formulas shareholders put to use to evaluate publicly traded companies. A couple of the most underrated formulas are hedge fund and insider trading moves. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outclass the broader indices by a solid margin (see the details here).
Joel Greenblatt of Gotham Asset Management
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 trades like this one as well as this tiny lithium play. 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 gander at the recent hedge fund action encompassing Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC).
Hedge fund activity in Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC)
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 28 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 12% from the fourth quarter of 2019. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards KGC over the last 18 quarters. So, let’s review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Renaissance Technologies has the biggest position in Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), worth close to $251.1 million, corresponding to 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Sprott Asset Management, managed by Eric Sprott, which holds a $44.2 million position; 4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other professional money managers with similar optimism contain Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Sprott Asset Management allocated the biggest weight to Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), around 4.05% of its 13F portfolio. Odey Asset Management Group is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 3.85 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to KGC.
Consequently, key hedge funds have jumped into Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) headfirst. Marshall Wace LLP, managed by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, created the most valuable position in Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC). Marshall Wace LLP had $2.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Horseman’s Horseman Capital Management also initiated a $1.5 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new KGC investors: Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, Donald Sussman’s Paloma Partners, and Ali Motamed’s Invenomic Capital Management.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR), Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN), Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR), and Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to KGC’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNR | 29 | 391097 | 3 |
| MORN | 13 | 235862 | -8 |
| KMPR | 13 | 48502 | -7 |
| LEVI | 11 | 34012 | 0 |
| Average | 16.5 | 177368 | -3 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 16.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $177 million. That figure was $447 million in KGC’s case. Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. 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 gained 8.3% in 2020 through the end of May but still beat the market by 13.2 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on KGC as the stock returned 64.6% in Q2 (through the end of May) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
