With the first-quarter round of 13F filings behind us it is time to take a look at the stocks in which some of the best money managers in the world preferred to invest or sell heading into the second quarter. One of these stocks was Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF).
Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF) investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. Our calculations also showed that BCSF isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (see the video below).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In today’s marketplace there are a multitude of gauges market participants have at their disposal to value their stock investments. Some of the most under-the-radar gauges are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can beat the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see the details here).
Unlike former hedge manager, Dr. Steve Sjuggerud, who is convinced Dow will soar past 40000, our long-short investment strategy doesn’t rely on bull markets to deliver double digit returns. We only rely on hedge fund buy/sell signals. We’re going to take a gander at the new hedge fund action encompassing Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF).
How have hedgies been trading Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF)?
Heading into the third quarter of 2019, a total of 5 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 150% from the first quarter of 2019. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards BCSF over the last 16 quarters. So, let’s review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically, Indaba Capital Management was the largest shareholder of Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF), with a stake worth $24.6 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Indaba Capital Management was Arrowstreet Capital, which amassed a stake valued at $2.9 million. Gillson Capital, Citadel Investment Group, and Millennium Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Gillson Capital, managed by Daniel Johnson, created the largest position in Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF). Gillson Capital had $1.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $1.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new BCSF position is Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF). We will take a look at Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LTRPA), Coeur Mining, Inc. (NYSE:CDE), Valhi, Inc. (NYSE:VHI), and ATN International, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI). This group of stocks’ market caps match BCSF’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| LTRPA | 21 | 255525 | -2 |
| CDE | 10 | 29389 | -1 |
| VHI | 6 | 8001 | 0 |
| ATNI | 9 | 61868 | -1 |
| Average | 11.5 | 88696 | -1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 11.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $89 million. That figure was $32 million in BCSF’s case. Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LTRPA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Valhi, Inc. (NYSE:VHI) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc. (NYSE:BCSF) is even less popular than VHI. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 24.4% in 2019 through September 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 4 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on BCSF, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 4.1% during the third quarter and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
