Is PTC A Good Stock To Buy Now?

The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We have processed the filings of the more than 817 world-class investment firms that we track and now have access to the collective wisdom contained in these filings, which are based on their September 30 holdings, data that is available nowhere else. Should you consider PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC) for your portfolio? We’ll look to this invaluable collective wisdom for the answer.

Is PTC a good stock to buy now? PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC) investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently. PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC) was in 39 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2020. The all time high for this statistic is 46. Our calculations also showed that PTC isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).

Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.

To most shareholders, hedge funds are seen as worthless, outdated investment tools of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation at the moment, We look at the moguls of this club, about 850 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors direct most of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their unrivaled investments, Insider Monkey has brought to light several investment strategies that have historically outperformed the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points per year since its inception in March 2017. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 13% since February 2017 (through November 17th) even though the market was up 65% during the same period. We just shared a list of 6 short targets in our latest quarterly update .

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 15 best blue chip stocks to buy to pick the best large-cap stocks to buy. 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. Now let’s go over the fresh hedge fund action encompassing PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC).

Do Hedge Funds Think PTC Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?

Heading into the fourth quarter of 2020, a total of 39 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -3% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards PTC over the last 21 quarters. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

Among these funds, 40 North Management held the most valuable stake in PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC), which was worth $372.2 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Impax Asset Management which amassed $220.2 million worth of shares. Praesidium Investment Management Company, Alkeon Capital Management, and Two Creeks Capital 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 40 North Management allocated the biggest weight to PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC), around 14.96% of its 13F portfolio. StackLine Partners is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 13.22 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to PTC.

Judging by the fact that PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC) has faced a decline in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there exists a select few money managers that elected to cut their entire stakes by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group cut the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $19.4 million in stock, and Robert Vincent McHugh’s Jade Capital Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $5.8 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE:IHG), Loews Corporation (NYSE:L), DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc. (NASDAQ:XRAY), Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH), Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB), Ally Financial Inc (NYSE:ALLY), and Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to PTC’s market value.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 29.3 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $920 million. That figure was $1342 million in PTC’s case. Ally Financial Inc (NYSE:ALLY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE:IHG) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for PTC is 64.2. 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 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.3% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10 percentage points. These stocks gained 33.3% in 2020 through December 18th and still beat the market by 16.4 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on PTC as the stock returned 43.1% since the end of Q3 (through 12/18) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.