With the third-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 fourth quarter. One of these stocks was Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (NYSE:APAM).
Hedge fund interest in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (NYSE:APAM) 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 APAM to other stocks including Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (NYSE:CIG), Ebix Inc (NASDAQ:EBIX), and Great Western Bancorp Inc (NYSE:GWB) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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We’re going to take a look at the latest hedge fund action surrounding Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (NYSE:APAM).
What have hedge funds been doing with Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (NYSE:APAM)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, no change from the second quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 11 hedge funds with a bullish position in APAM at the beginning of this year. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
The largest stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (NYSE:APAM) was held by Fisher Asset Management, which reported holding $55.7 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by Royce & Associates with a $36.6 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Renaissance Technologies, Sprott Asset Management, and Two Sigma Advisors.
Judging by the fact that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (NYSE:APAM) has faced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there lies a certain “tier” of money managers that decided to sell off their full holdings last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Israel Englander’s Millennium Management cut the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, comprising about $2.1 million in stock. Michael Platt and William Reeves’s fund, BlueCrest Capital Mgmt., also sold off its stock, about $1 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (NYSE:APAM) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (NYSE:CIG), Ebix Inc (NASDAQ:EBIX), Great Western Bancorp Inc (NYSE:GWB), and Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM). This group of stocks’ market values match APAM’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CIG | 6 | 3508 | -1 |
| EBIX | 16 | 116046 | 2 |
| GWB | 8 | 17358 | 0 |
| IRDM | 11 | 113646 | 1 |
| Average | 10.25 | 62640 | 0.5 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $63 million. That figure was $125 million in APAM’s case. Ebix Inc (NASDAQ:EBIX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (NYSE:CIG) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (NYSE:APAM) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard EBIX might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
