At Insider Monkey, we pore over the filings of nearly 750 top investment firms every quarter, a process we have now completed for the latest reporting period. The data we’ve gathered as a result gives us access to a wealth of collective knowledge based on these firms’ portfolio holdings as of September 30. In this article, we will use that wealth of knowledge to determine whether or not Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE:CTO) makes for a good investment right now.
Is Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE:CTO) a great investment right now? Prominent investors are becoming hopeful. The number of long hedge fund bets improved by 2 recently. Our calculations also showed that CTO isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings). CTO was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with CTO holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
To the average investor there are a multitude of methods stock market investors have at their disposal to analyze stocks. Some of the most under-the-radar methods are hedge fund and insider trading activity. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see the details here).
Clint Carlson of Carlson Capital
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world’s largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. One of the most bullish analysts in America just put his money where his mouth is. He says, “I’m investing more today than I did back in early 2009.” So we check out his pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We also rely on the best performing hedge funds‘ buy/sell signals. We’re going to take a gander at the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE:CTO).
What have hedge funds been doing with Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE:CTO)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 12 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 20% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards CTO over the last 17 quarters. So, let’s examine 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, Forward Management, managed by J. Alan Reid, Jr., holds the number one position in Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE:CTO). Forward Management has a $13.3 million position in the stock, comprising 2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Carlson Capital, led by Clint Carlson, holding a $10.7 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other members of the smart money with similar optimism include Mark Travis’s Intrepid Capital Management, Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital and Renaissance Technologies. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Intrepid Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE:CTO), around 3.23% of its 13F portfolio. Forward Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 2.02 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CTO.
Now, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, created the most valuable position in Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE:CTO). Winton Capital Management had $2.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management also initiated a $0.3 million position during the quarter.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE:CTO) but similarly valued. We will take a look at DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSPG), PolyMet Mining Corp. (NYSE:PLM), NVE Corporation (NASDAQ:NVEC), and Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE:RYI). This group of stocks’ market caps match CTO’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| DSPG | 16 | 53003 | 1 |
| PLM | 2 | 463 | -1 |
| NVEC | 11 | 24069 | 4 |
| RYI | 13 | 11101 | -3 |
| Average | 10.5 | 22159 | 0.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $22 million. That figure was $46 million in CTO’s case. DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSPG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand PolyMet Mining Corp. (NYSE:PLM) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE:CTO) 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. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. Unfortunately CTO wasn’t nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on CTO were disappointed as the stock returned -4.2% during the fourth quarter (through the end of November) and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds as many of these stocks already outperformed the market so far this year.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.