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. Insider Monkey finished processing 821 13F filings submitted by hedge funds and prominent investors. These filings show these funds’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, 2020. In this article we are going to take a look at smart money sentiment towards Mustang Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIO).
Mustang Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIO) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest recently. MBIO was in 9 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with MBIO holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that MBIO 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.
Hedge funds’ reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 58 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that’ll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 36% through May 18th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Samuel Isaly of OrbiMed Advisors
At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, We take a look at lists like the 10 most profitable companies in the world to identify the compounders that are likely to deliver double digit returns. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. For example we are checking out stocks recommended/scorned by legendary Bill Miller. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 in February after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. Now let’s take a look at the new hedge fund action regarding Mustang Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIO).
How are hedge funds trading Mustang Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIO)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 13% from the fourth quarter of 2019. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in MBIO 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.
More specifically, Renaissance Technologies was the largest shareholder of Mustang Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIO), with a stake worth $2.2 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was 683 Capital Partners, which amassed a stake valued at $1.2 million. Ikarian Capital, Parkman Healthcare Partners, and OrbiMed Advisors were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Parkman Healthcare Partners allocated the biggest weight to Mustang Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIO), around 0.38% of its 13F portfolio. 683 Capital Partners is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 0.15 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to MBIO.
As one would reasonably expect, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Algert Coldiron Investors, managed by Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron, assembled the largest position in Mustang Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIO). Algert Coldiron Investors had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Mustang Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIO) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Safeguard Scientifics, Inc (NYSE:SFE), Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL), La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company (NASDAQ:LJPC), and Citizens Holding Company (NASDAQ:CIZN). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to MBIO’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFE | 11 | 10703 | -2 |
| LDL | 14 | 12698 | 3 |
| LJPC | 5 | 34781 | -1 |
| CIZN | 2 | 939 | 0 |
| Average | 8 | 14780 | 0 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 8 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $15 million. That figure was $6 million in MBIO’s case. Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Citizens Holding Company (NASDAQ:CIZN) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Mustang Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBIO) 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 13.4% in 2020 through June 22nd but still beat the market by 15.9 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on MBIO, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 21.3% during the first two months and twenty two days of the second quarter and outperformed the market as well.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
