It was a rough third quarter for many hedge funds, which were naturally unable to overcome the big dip in the broad market, as the S&P 500 fell by about 7% during the quarter. The Russell 2000, composed of smaller companies, performed even worse, trailing the S&P by about 14 percentage points between June 25 and October 30, as investors fled less-known quantities for safe havens. This was the case with hedge funds, who we heard were pulling money from the market amid the volatility, which included money from small-cap stocks, which they invest in at a higher rate than other investors. This action contributed to the greater decline in these stocks during the tumultuous period. We will study how this market volatility affected their sentiment towards Nordic American Tanker Ltd (NYSE:NAT) during the quarter below.
Nordic American Tanker Ltd has experienced an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. NAT was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with NAT positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare NAT to other stocks including DBV Technologies SA – ADR (NASDAQ:DBVT), Coherent, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHR), and Genesco Inc. (NYSE:GCO) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT)
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At the moment there are several metrics that market participants can use to evaluate publicly traded companies. A duo of the less utilized metrics are hedge fund and insider trading interest. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see the details here).
With all of this in mind, we’re going to check out the fresh action regarding Nordic American Tanker Ltd (NYSE:NAT).
How have hedgies been trading Nordic American Tanker Ltd (NYSE:NAT)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 13% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Joe Huber’s Huber Capital Management has the biggest position in Nordic American Tanker Ltd (NYSE:NAT), worth close to $37 million, amounting to 1.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Renaissance Technologies, holding a $12.8 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism encompass Neil Chriss’ Hutchin Hill Capital and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
Now, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Marshall Wace LLP, managed by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, assembled the most outsized position in Nordic American Tanker Ltd (NYSE:NAT). Marshall Wace LLP had $5.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also initiated a $1.5 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new NAT investors: Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and George Hall’s Clinton Group.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Nordic American Tanker Ltd (NYSE:NAT) but similarly valued. These stocks are DBV Technologies SA – ADR (NASDAQ:DBVT), Coherent, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHR), Genesco Inc. (NYSE:GCO), and Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to NAT’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| DBVT | 17 | 343932 | 5 |
| COHR | 17 | 74097 | -5 |
| GCO | 12 | 106406 | 1 |
| HIMX | 11 | 85966 | -5 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $153 million. That figure was $80 million in NAT’s case. DBV Technologies SA – ADR (NASDAQ:DBVT) is the most popular stock in this table, while Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Nordic American Tanker Ltd (NYSE:NAT) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially buy its shares.
