The worries about the economic slowdown in China and the ongoing uncertainty about the path of interest-rate increases triggered several waves of equity sell-offs during the third quarter. Of course, most hedge funds and other asset managers had to stomach substantial losses during the bloody three-month period, which might have caused some to consider fleeing the U.S. equity markets. Interestingly, smaller-cap stocks registered higher losses than large-capitalization stocks during the September quarter, suggesting that institutional investors heavily discarded seemingly riskier equities amid high uncertainty and turmoil. In fact, the Russell 2000 Index lost 11.9% in the third quarter, while the Standard and Poor’s 500 benchmark declined a mere 6.4%. This article will lay out and discuss the hedge fund and institutional investor sentiment towards Sterling Construction Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL).
Is Sterling Construction Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL) a buy right now? Prominent investors are betting on the stock. The number of bullish hedge fund bets advanced by 1 recently. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article, we will examine companies such as Willdan Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN), Lifevantage Corporation (NASDAQ:LFVN), and BSQUARE Corporation (NASDAQ:BSQR) to gather more data points.
Follow Sterling Infrastructure Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL)
Follow Sterling Infrastructure Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL)
At the moment, there are several signals stock traders employ to value stocks. A pair of the most innovative signals are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a healthy margin (see the details here).
With all of this in mind, we’re going to go over the key action encompassing Sterling Construction Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL).
Hedge fund activity in Sterling Construction Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL)
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 4 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, an increase of 33% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the number one position in Sterling Construction Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL). Royce & Associates has a $1.4 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Renaissance Technologies, which holds a $0.4 million position; the fund has less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining professional money managers with similar optimism include Charles Paquelet’s Skylands Capital, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
