Here is What Hedge Funds Think About UMH Properties, Inc (UMH)

The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the September quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge fund investors experienced strong gains on the back of a strong market performance, which certainly propelled them to adjust their equity holdings so as to maintain the desired risk profile. As a result, the relevancy of these public filings and their content is indisputable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE:UMH).

UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE:UMH) has seen a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. UMH was in 8 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2019. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with UMH positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that UMH isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings).

Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.

Hedge funds’ reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds’ small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the Russell 2000 ETFs by 40 percentage points since May 2014 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.

Israel Englander of Millennium Management

We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world’s largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. One of the most bullish analysts in America just put his money where his mouth is. He says, “I’m investing more today than I did back in early 2009.” So we check out his pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We also rely on the best performing hedge funds‘ buy/sell signals. Let’s take a look at the key hedge fund action encompassing UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE:UMH).

What have hedge funds been doing with UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE:UMH)?

Heading into the fourth quarter of 2019, a total of 8 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -11% from the second quarter of 2019. On the other hand, there were a total of 9 hedge funds with a bullish position in UMH a year ago. So, let’s examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.

Among these funds, Rutabaga Capital Management held the most valuable stake in UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE:UMH), which was worth $5.6 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Millennium Management which amassed $3 million worth of shares. Citadel Investment Group, Renaissance Technologies, and GAMCO Investors were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Rutabaga Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE:UMH), around 2% of its 13F portfolio. Stevens Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.02 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to UMH.

Due to the fact that UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE:UMH) has witnessed falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there exists a select few funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace dumped the biggest investment of the 750 funds followed by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $0.7 million in stock, and David E. Shaw’s D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $0.5 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE:UMH) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH), Collier Creek Holdings (NYSE:CCH), The York Water Company (NASDAQ:YORW), and Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ:BMRC). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to UMH’s market cap.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 9.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $54 million. That figure was $14 million in UMH’s case. Collier Creek Holdings (NYSE:CCH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ:BMRC) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. UMH Properties, Inc (NYSE:UMH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on UMH as the stock returned 12.2% during the first two months of Q4 and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.