Out of thousands of stocks that are currently traded on the market, it is difficult to identify those that will really generate strong returns. Hedge funds and institutional investors spend millions of dollars on analysts with MBAs and PhDs, who are industry experts and well connected to other industry and media insiders on top of that. Individual investors can piggyback the hedge funds employing these talents and can benefit from their vast resources and knowledge in that way. We analyze quarterly 13F filings of nearly 750 hedge funds and, by looking at the smart money sentiment that surrounds a stock, we can determine whether it has the potential to beat the market over the long-term. Therefore, let’s take a closer look at what smart money thinks about American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT).
Is American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT) the right investment to pursue these days? The best stock pickers are taking a bullish view. The number of long hedge fund positions increased by 2 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that anat isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In today’s marketplace there are several indicators stock traders employ to value stocks. A couple of the best indicators are hedge fund and insider trading interest. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can beat the market by a healthy amount (see the details here).
Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management
We’re going to analyze the latest hedge fund action encompassing American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT).
What does the smart money think about American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT)?
At Q4’s end, a total of 15 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 15% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 10 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in ANAT a year ago. 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, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the number one position in American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT). Renaissance Technologies has a $24.4 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by GLG Partners, managed by Noam Gottesman, which holds a $4.6 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers that are bullish include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
Now, specific money managers have jumped into American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT) headfirst. PEAK6 Capital Management, managed by Matthew Hulsizer, established the largest position in American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT). PEAK6 Capital Management had $0.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ronald Hua’s Qtron Investments also initiated a $0.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ANAT positions are Peter S. Stamos’s Stamos Capital and Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT). We will take a look at J2 Global Inc (NASDAQ:JCOM), Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAUR), American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE:AEO), and Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS). This group of stocks’ market values resemble ANAT’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| JCOM | 17 | 203141 | 0 |
| LAUR | 24 | 273657 | 4 |
| AEO | 27 | 401197 | 1 |
| NUS | 24 | 228123 | 6 |
| Average | 23 | 276530 | 2.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 23 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $277 million. That figure was $38 million in ANAT’s case. American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE:AEO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand J2 Global Inc (NASDAQ:JCOM) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT) is even less popular than JCOM. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards ANAT. Our calculations showed that the top 15 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 24.2% through April 22nd and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 7 percentage points. Unfortunately ANAT wasn’t nearly as popular as these 15 stock (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); ANAT investors were disappointed as the stock returned -7.5% and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 15 most popular stocks) among hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market this year.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
