At the end of February we announced the arrival of the first US recession since 2009 and we predicted that the market will decline by at least 20% in (Recession is Imminent: We Need A Travel Ban NOW). In these volatile markets we scrutinize hedge fund filings to get a reading on which direction each stock might be going. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK).
Hedge fund interest in Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK) shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. At the end of this article we will also compare LARK to other stocks including Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSE:GTE), LiveXLive Media, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIVX), and RYB Education, Inc. (NYSE:RYB) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s monthly stock picks returned 72% since March 2017 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 44 percentage points. Our short strategy outperformed the S&P 500 short ETFs by 20 percentage points annually (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates
At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, legendary investor Bill Miller told investors to sell 7 extremely popular recession stocks last month. So, we went through his list and recommended another stock with 100% upside potential instead. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. You can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here and find out the name of the large-cap healthcare stock that Sio Capital’s Michael Castor expects to double. 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 S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind we’re going to go over the latest hedge fund action regarding Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK).
Hedge fund activity in Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK)
At Q1’s end, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in LARK over the last 18 quarters. So, let’s examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK), which was worth $1.9 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Royce & Associates which amassed $1.3 million worth of shares. Fourthstone LLC was 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 Fourthstone LLC allocated the biggest weight to Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK), around 0.46% of its 13F portfolio. Royce & Associates is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 0.02 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to LARK.
Earlier we told you that the aggregate hedge fund interest in the stock was unchanged and we view this as a negative development. Even though there weren’t any hedge funds dumping their holdings during the third quarter, there weren’t any hedge funds initiating brand new positions. This indicates that hedge funds, at the very best, perceive this stock as dead money and they haven’t identified any viable catalysts that can attract investor attention.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK). We will take a look at Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSE:GTE), LiveXLive Media, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIVX), RYB Education, Inc. (NYSE:RYB), and Chembio Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:CEMI). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to LARK’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| GTE | 12 | 31824 | -3 |
| LIVX | 3 | 5130 | 0 |
| RYB | 3 | 6156 | -1 |
| CEMI | 4 | 13772 | 1 |
| Average | 5.5 | 14221 | -0.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 5.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $14 million. That figure was $4 million in LARK’s case. Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSE:GTE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand LiveXLive Media, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIVX) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK) is even less popular than LIVX. 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 7.9% in 2020 through May 22nd but managed to beat the market by 15.6 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on LARK, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 17.6% during the second quarter (through May 22nd) and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
