The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the December 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 Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC).
Is KGC stock a buy? Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) has seen an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) was in 36 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of December. The all time high for this statistic is 31. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. Our calculations also showed that KGC isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q4 rankings).
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s monthly stock picks returned 197% since March 2017 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 124 percentage points. Our short strategy outperformed the S&P 500 short ETFs by 20 percentage points annually (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Eric Sprott of Sprott Asset Management
At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, the House passed a landmark bill decriminalizing marijuana. So, we are checking out this under the radar cannabis stock right now. We go through lists like the 10 best battery stocks to buy to identify the next stock with 10x upside potential. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our website. With all of this in mind we’re going to take a peek at the new hedge fund action encompassing Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC).
Do Hedge Funds Think KGC Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
At the end of December, a total of 36 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 24% from the third quarter of 2020. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in KGC over the last 22 quarters. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), which was worth $281.6 million at the end of the fourth quarter. On the second spot was Arrowstreet Capital which amassed $102 million worth of shares. Citadel Investment Group, Sprott Asset Management, and Millennium Management 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 Quaker Capital Investments allocated the biggest weight to Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), around 8.45% of its 13F portfolio. Sprott Asset Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 2.98 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to KGC.
As aggregate interest increased, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Capital Growth Management, managed by Ken Heebner, initiated the largest position in Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC). Capital Growth Management had $22.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments also made a $7.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new KGC investors: Nicholas Bagnall’s Te Ahumairangi Investment Management, Constantine Mamakos’s Venator Management LLC, and Peter Galgay’s Amitell Capital.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Canopy Growth Corporation (NYSE:CGC), Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc (NASDAQ:JAZZ), Dropbox, Inc. (NASDAQ:DBX), Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG), NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG), Bunge Limited (NYSE:BG), and Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:RARE). This group of stocks’ market valuations match KGC’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CGC | 19 | 133453 | 10 |
| JAZZ | 29 | 1338561 | 1 |
| DBX | 43 | 962972 | 0 |
| IPG | 38 | 581603 | 7 |
| NRG | 31 | 1465420 | -1 |
| BG | 51 | 936635 | 10 |
| RARE | 26 | 609331 | 6 |
| Average | 33.9 | 861139 | 4.7 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 33.9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $861 million. That figure was $695 million in KGC’s case. Bunge Limited (NYSE:BG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Canopy Growth Corporation (NYSE:CGC) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for KGC is 66.6. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed that top 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 81.2% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 26 percentage points. These stocks gained 7.9% in 2021 through April 1st and beat the market again by 0.4 percentage points. Unfortunately KGC wasn’t nearly as popular as these 30 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on KGC were disappointed as the stock returned -3.9% since the end of December (through 4/1) and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds as many of these stocks already outperformed the market since 2019.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
