Our extensive research has shown that imitating the smart money can generate significant returns for retail investors, which is why we track more than 700 prominent money managers and analyze their quarterly 13F filings. The stocks that are heavily bought by hedge funds historically outperformed the market, though there is no shortage of high profile gigantic failures like hedge funds’ recent losses in Valeant. Let’s take a closer look at what the funds we track think about Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) in this article.
Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Westar Energy Inc (NYSE:WR), Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ:CG), and IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI) to gather more data points.
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Follow Service Corp International (NYSE:SCI)
With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the latest action regarding Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI).
What does the smart money think about Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 37 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 48% from the second quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Iridian Asset Management, managed by David Cohen and Harold Levy, holds the number one position in Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI). Iridian Asset Management has an $243.8 million position in the stock, comprising 2.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Ivory Capital (Investment Mgmt), led by Curtis Macnguyen, holding an $74.2 million position; 2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining professional money managers that are bullish contain Joshua Friedman and Mitchell Julis’s Canyon Capital Advisors, Jeffrey Altman’s Owl Creek Asset Management and Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management.
Consequently, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Scoggin, managed by Curtis Schenker and Craig Effron, assembled the most valuable position in Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI). Scoggin had $6.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated an $5.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, George Hall’s Clinton Group, and John Bader’s Halcyon Asset Management.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI). We will take a look at Westar Energy Inc (NYSE:WR), Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ:CG), IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI), and EnCana Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ECA). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble SCI’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| WR | 10 | 122099 | 1 |
| CG | 12 | 58079 | 0 |
| IACI | 47 | 1579686 | -2 |
| ECA | 27 | 416044 | 1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 24 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $544 million. That figure was $607 million in SCI’s case. IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Westar Energy Inc (NYSE:WR) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard IACI might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
