LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL) has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment lately.
If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are viewed as slow, old financial tools of the past. While there are over 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the leaders of this group, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group controls most of the smart money’s total asset base, and by watching their top equity investments, we have uncovered a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see the details here).
Just as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many motivations for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a look at the recent action regarding LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL).
How are hedge funds trading LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 125% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.
Of the funds we track, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors had the largest position in LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL), worth close to $14 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $3 million position; 0% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL) headfirst. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, initiated the most outsized position in LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL). Renaissance Technologies had 2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL)?
Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL). These stocks are Entravision Communication (NYSE:EVC), Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ:CETV), Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI), Belo Corp. (NYSE:BLC), and Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST). This group of stocks are in the broadcasting – tv industry and their market caps are similar to TVL’s market cap.
