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. We at Insider Monkey have gone over 730 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of June 28th. In this article we look at what those investors think of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH).
Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of June. CBSH has seen a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with CBSH positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that CBSH isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (see the video below).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the eyes of most market participants, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, outdated financial tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open at the moment, We hone in on the bigwigs of this club, approximately 750 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors command bulk of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by keeping track of their best equity investments, Insider Monkey has determined many investment strategies that have historically exceeded the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey’s flagship hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points per annum since its inception in May 2014. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 25.7% since February 2017 (through September 30th) even though the market was up more than 33% during the same period. We just shared a list of 10 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
Unlike former hedge manager, Dr. Steve Sjuggerud, who is convinced Dow will soar past 40000, our long-short investment strategy doesn’t rely on bull markets to deliver double digit returns. We only rely on hedge fund buy/sell signals. Let’s take a look at the recent hedge fund action surrounding Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH).
How are hedge funds trading Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -15% from the first quarter of 2019. By comparison, 9 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in CBSH a year ago. So, let’s check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) was held by AQR Capital Management, which reported holding $18.5 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Arrowstreet Capital with a $12.8 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Renaissance Technologies, GLG Partners, and Holocene Advisors.
Judging by the fact that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) has experienced a decline in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there were a few money managers who were dropping their positions entirely by the end of the second quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint Capital dropped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds watched by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $2.2 million in stock, and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $1 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds by the end of the second quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) but similarly valued. These stocks are American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC), Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR), PRA Health Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:PRAH), and CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to CBSH’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | 17 | 373471 | -2 |
| PNR | 21 | 546471 | -7 |
| PRAH | 25 | 340888 | -3 |
| CUBE | 18 | 384323 | -2 |
| Average | 20.25 | 411288 | -3.5 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $411 million. That figure was $39 million in CBSH’s case. PRA Health Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:PRAH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) is even less popular than ACC. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 24.4% in 2019 through September 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 4 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on CBSH, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 2.1% during the third quarter and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
