How Many Priceline.com Inc (PCLN) Investors Are Short?

At present, there are a significant amount of facts and figures for Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) traders to track, but it’s key to take note of a company’s short sellers. Two metrics typically used are: (a) the chunk of a company’s shares that bears are presently selling, in addition to (b) the difference in short selling activity.

Augmented bearish shorting typically means what it implies: Wall Street has grown less bullish on a company. Short selling that’s too high, however, sometimes has a bullish effect on share price, as short-ers can be forced to cover their shares.

At Insider Monkey, it’s no secret that we monitor hedgies’ interest, but it’s also beneficial to pair this information with overall short interest information. In some high-profile cases, mega- investors could disclose that they’re bearish on a stock, but it is not an SEC requirement. Nonetheless, some individual investors may want to stay away from highly shorted stocks with elevated hedgie investment, while others may want short-squeeze candidates. For readers wanting a proven piggybacking strategy, discover the details of our premium strategy.

Without further ado, let’s take a gander at the latest data swirling around Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN).

Tracking the newest FINRA short interest data, which is reported two times monthly, we can realize that Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) has a short interest of 5.30% of float. This represents a -12% change from the previous filing period. With a total float of 51.13M shares, this is a short ratio of 4.30.

It’s also important to keep an eye on hedge fund sentiment via their quarterly 13F filings. According to our data, Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital had the biggest position in Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN), worth close to $1.4206 billion, comprising 6.9% of its total 13F portfolio. The 2nd biggest stake is held by Coatue Management, managed by Philippe Laffont, which held a $443.7 million position; the fund has 4.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Management, Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC and John Griffin’s Blue Ridge Capital.

Also, insider buying is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review activity in other stocks similar to Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN). These stocks are MakeMyTrip Limited (NASDAQ:MMYT), Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:OWW), Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE:FUN), Six Flags Entertainment Corp (NYSE:SIX), and Carnival plc (ADR) (NYSE:CUK). This group of stocks belong to the general entertainment industry and their market caps are similar to PCLN’s market cap.

The aforementioned indicators–short interest info, hedge fund holdings and insiders’ behavior–are what all readers should account for. Though it is hard to find a discernable strategy from short selling filings, hedge fund and insider sentiment give lots of market beating opportunities if you know where to look.