A market correction in the third quarter, spurred by a number of global macroeconomic concerns ended up having a negative impact on the markets and many hedge funds as a result. The stocks of smaller companies were especially hard hit during this time as investors fled to investments seen as being safer. This is evident in the fact that the Russell 2000 ETF underperformed the S&P 500 ETF by 14 percentage points between June 25 and the end of October. We also received indications that hedge funds were trimming their positions amid the market volatility and uncertainty, and given their greater inclination towards smaller cap stocks than other investors, it follows that a stronger sell-off occurred in those stocks. Let’s study the hedge fund sentiment to see how those concerns affected their ownership of Ardmore Shipping Corp (NYSE:ASC) during the quarter.
Ardmore Shipping Corp (NYSE:ASC) investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. At the end of this article, we will also compare Ardmore Shipping Corp (NYSE:ASC) to other stocks, including Halcon Resources Corp (NYSE:HK), Southwest Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKSB), and Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVID) to get a better sense of its popularity.
According to most traders, hedge funds are viewed as worthless, old investment vehicles of the past. While there are over 8000 funds trading at the moment, We look at the leaders of this group, about 700 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors commands the lion’s share of the smart money’s total asset base, and by monitoring their matchless equity investments, Insider Monkey has come up with numerous investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy exceeded the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in their back tests.
Keeping this in mind, let’s take a gander at the new action surrounding Ardmore Shipping Corp (NYSE:ASC).
What have hedge funds been doing with Ardmore Shipping Corp (NYSE:ASC)?
Heading into the fourth quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a drop of 29% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates has the biggest position in Ardmore Shipping Corp (NYSE:ASC), worth close to $12.7 million, amounting to 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Pyrrho Capital Management, led by Vishal Bhutani and Joshua Bederman, holding a $4.8 million position; 4.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers that are bullish encompass Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management, Jon Bauer’s Contrarian Capital, and Renaissance Technologies.
