After several tireless days we have finished crunching the numbers from nearly 750 13F filings issued by the elite hedge funds and other investment firms that we track at Insider Monkey, which disclosed those firms’ equity portfolios as of September 30th. The results of that effort will be put on display in this article, as we share valuable insight into the smart money sentiment towards Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT).
Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT) was in 5 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. JT investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment lately. There were 4 hedge funds in our database with JT positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that JT 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.
To most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, outdated investment vehicles of the past. While there are over 8000 funds trading today, We look at the aristocrats of this club, approximately 750 funds. These hedge fund managers direct the lion’s share of the smart money’s total asset base, and by tracking their matchless equity investments, Insider Monkey has unsheathed several investment strategies that have historically exceeded Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 27.8% since February 2017 (through November 21st) even though the market was up more than 39% during the same period. We just shared a list of 7 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
David Harding of Winton Capital Management
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Discover is offering this insane cashback card, so we look into shorting the stock. 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 even check out this option genius’ weekly trade ideas. This December, we recommended Adams Energy as a one-way bet based on an under-the-radar fund manager’s investor letter and the stock already gained 20 percent. Keeping this in mind we’re going to take a peek at the latest hedge fund action regarding Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT).
What have hedge funds been doing with Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 25% from the second quarter of 2019. By comparison, 4 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in JT a year ago. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
More specifically, Yiheng Capital was the largest shareholder of Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT), with a stake worth $20.4 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Yiheng Capital was Renaissance Technologies, which amassed a stake valued at $3.1 million. Granite Point Capital, Winton Capital Management, and Citadel Investment Group 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 Yiheng Capital allocated the biggest weight to Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT), around 2.49% of its 13F portfolio. Granite Point Capital is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 0.15 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to JT.
As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, assembled the largest position in Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT). Winton Capital Management had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also initiated a $0 million position during the quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT). We will take a look at PennantPark Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:PNNT), Donegal Group Inc (NASDAQ:DGICA), Puma Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ:PBYI), and Prevail Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:PRVL). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to JT’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNNT | 10 | 18868 | 1 |
| DGICA | 6 | 10730 | 2 |
| PBYI | 17 | 120368 | 0 |
| PRVL | 9 | 270707 | -2 |
| Average | 10.5 | 105168 | 0.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $105 million. That figure was $25 million in JT’s case. Puma Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ:PBYI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Donegal Group Inc (NASDAQ:DGICA) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Jianpu Technology Inc. (NYSE:JT) is even less popular than DGICA. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards JT. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. Unfortunately JT wasn’t nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); JT investors were disappointed as the stock returned -16% during the fourth quarter (through the end of November) and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds as 70 percent of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q4.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
