We at Insider Monkey have gone over 821 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the SEC The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, near the height of the coronavirus market crash. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP) based on that data.
Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP) shareholders have witnessed an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. Our calculations also showed that IMMP isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the financial world there are plenty of tools stock market investors put to use to appraise publicly traded companies. A pair of the most useful tools are hedge fund and insider trading moves. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outpace the broader indices by a healthy margin (see the details here).
Israel Englander of Millennium Management
At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, legendary investor Bill Miller told investors to sell 7 extremely popular recession stocks last month. So, we went through his list and recommended another stock with 100% upside potential instead. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. You can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here and find out the name of the large-cap healthcare stock that Sio Capital’s Michael Castor expects to double. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind we’re going to analyze the key hedge fund action regarding Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP).
What have hedge funds been doing with Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 200% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in IMMP over the last 18 quarters. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP), which was worth $0.2 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Citadel Investment Group which amassed $0 million worth of shares. Millennium Management was 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 Renaissance Technologies allocated the biggest weight to Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP), around 0.0002% of its 13F portfolio. Millennium Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 0 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to IMMP.
As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers have jumped into Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP) headfirst. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, created the most valuable position in Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP). Citadel Investment Group had $0 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made a $0 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP). These stocks are RealNetworks Inc (NASDAQ:RNWK), USA Truck, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAK), Finjan Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FNJN), and FSB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBC). This group of stocks’ market values match IMMP’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| RNWK | 5 | 7169 | -1 |
| USAK | 2 | 366 | -1 |
| FNJN | 1 | 1917 | -2 |
| FSBC | 5 | 6165 | 0 |
| Average | 3.25 | 3904 | -1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 3.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $4 million. That figure was $0 million in IMMP’s case. RealNetworks Inc (NASDAQ:RNWK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Finjan Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FNJN) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 7.9% in 2020 through May 22nd and still beat the market by 15.6 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on IMMP as the stock returned 48.6% during the second quarter and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.