Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and successful value investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds’ and successful investors’ positions as of the end of the fourth quarter. You can find articles about an individual hedge fund’s trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves over the last 5 years and analyze what the smart money thinks of MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ) based on that data.
Is MTZ stock a buy? Investors who are in the know were taking a pessimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions dropped by 3 in recent months. MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ) was in 32 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of December. The all time high for this statistic is 41. Our calculations also showed that MTZ isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q4 rankings).
Richard S. Pzena of Pzena Investment Management
At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, the CBD market is growing at a 33% annualized rate, so we are taking a closer look at this under-the-radar hemp stock. We go through lists like the 10 best biotech stocks under $10 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. Keeping this in mind let’s review the recent hedge fund action encompassing MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ).
Do Hedge Funds Think MTZ Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
At fourth quarter’s end, a total of 32 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -9% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in MTZ over the last 22 quarters. So, let’s find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Select Equity Group, managed by Robert Joseph Caruso, holds the biggest position in MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ). Select Equity Group has a $95.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Richard S. Pzena of Pzena Investment Management, with a $56.9 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other members of the smart money that are bullish encompass Jos Shaver’s Electron Capital Partners, William Harnisch’s Peconic Partners LLC and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Peconic Partners LLC allocated the biggest weight to MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ), around 3.47% of its 13F portfolio. Coe Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 3.08 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to MTZ.
Due to the fact that MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of fund managers that decided to sell off their full holdings last quarter. Intriguingly, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management sold off the biggest stake of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $17.7 million in stock. Ali Motamed’s fund, Invenomic Capital Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $1.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds last quarter.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ) but similarly valued. These stocks are Brooks Automation, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRKS), Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR), Emcor Group Inc (NYSE:EME), Digital Turbine Inc (NASDAQ:APPS), Medallia, Inc. (NYSE:MDLA), Regal Beloit Corporation (NYSE:RBC), and Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to MTZ’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| BRKS | 25 | 173905 | 8 |
| KMPR | 13 | 44437 | -5 |
| EME | 25 | 169975 | -4 |
| APPS | 23 | 318095 | 0 |
| MDLA | 21 | 428312 | -3 |
| RBC | 25 | 308385 | 0 |
| MEDP | 25 | 248031 | -6 |
| Average | 22.4 | 241591 | -1.4 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 22.4 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $242 million. That figure was $350 million in MTZ’s case. Brooks Automation, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRKS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ) is more popular among hedge funds. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for MTZ is 75.4. 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. 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 returned 12.2% in 2021 through April 12th but still managed to beat the market by 1.5 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on MTZ as the stock returned 46.6% since the end of December (through 4/12) and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were clearly right about piling into this stock relative to other stocks with similar market capitalizations.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
