The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the June 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 Columbia Property Trust Inc (NYSE:CXP).
Columbia Property Trust Inc (NYSE:CXP) was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2019. CXP has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently. There were 15 hedge funds in our database with CXP holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that CXP isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (view video below).
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 market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (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.
Unlike former hedge manager, Dr. Steve Sjuggerud, who is convinced Dow will soar past 40000, our long-short investment strategy doesn’t rely on bull markets to deliver double digit returns. We only rely on hedge fund buy/sell signals. We’re going to take a look at the fresh hedge fund action regarding Columbia Property Trust Inc (NYSE:CXP).
What does smart money think about Columbia Property Trust Inc (NYSE:CXP)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -20% from the first quarter of 2019. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards CXP over the last 16 quarters. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Columbia Property Trust Inc (NYSE:CXP), which was worth $29 million at the end of the second quarter. On the second spot was Millennium Management which amassed $7.5 million worth of shares. Moreover, Citadel Investment Group, Arrowstreet Capital, and Balyasny Asset Management were also bullish on Columbia Property Trust Inc (NYSE:CXP), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Because Columbia Property Trust Inc (NYSE:CXP) has faced falling interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of hedgies who were dropping their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management said goodbye to the biggest position of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, worth close to $1 million in stock, and Jeffrey Furber’s AEW Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $1 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds last quarter.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Columbia Property Trust Inc (NYSE:CXP). These stocks are PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRO), 2U Inc (NASDAQ:TWOU), California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT), and Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS). This group of stocks’ market values match CXP’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRO | 16 | 223208 | -3 |
| TWOU | 14 | 71032 | -5 |
| CWT | 12 | 32352 | 4 |
| CNS | 15 | 69454 | 6 |
| Average | 14.25 | 99012 | 0.5 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $99 million. That figure was $59 million in CXP’s case. PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Columbia Property Trust Inc (NYSE:CXP) is even less popular than CWT. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 24.4% in 2019 through September 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 4 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on CXP, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 2.9% during the third quarter and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
