A market-moving update, Larry Robbins’ hedge fund Glenview Capital Management just disclosed ownership of about 20.1 million shares of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP), in a 13G filing with the Security and Exchange Commission. The value of the stake amounts to $273.4 million, at the current price of the company’s stock. In comparison with the stake disclosed in the fund’s second quarter 13F filing, Robbins’ hedge fund increased the position in J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) by over 11.6 million shares.
If we take a look at the Glenview’s equity portfolio from the last year, we can notice that Larry Robbins has been bullish on J.C. Penney. The hedge fund first purchased a stake in J.C. Penney Company in the third quarter of 2012, the position at that time containing about 4.5 million shares, valued at $108.3 million. During the quarters following the purchase, Glenview has been strengthening its position in the company, and only during the second quarter of 2013, the hedge fund dumped about 1.1 million shares.
At present, there are a lot of analytical tools for J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) investors to watch, but it’s extremely useful to be aware of a company’s hedge funds. One path we can use is: (a) the total number of hedge funds that are optimistic about a particular company, in addition to (b) which specific funds are stockholders.
An increased amount of smart money interest typically means what you’d think: the top minds on Wall Street have turned more optimistic about the stock.
Here at Insider Monkey, it is not a secret that we watch hedge funds’ interest, but it is extremely crucial to parse this information into the highest-tier of fund managers. For those searching for a market-beating piggybacking strategy, discover the details of our premium strategy.
With that in mind, let’s take a glance at the recent info swirling around J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP).
Studying the latest 13F hedge fund data, which is released once a quarter, we can realize that J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) has a select group of funds invested.
After analyzing the latest batch of 13Fs, Pershing Square, managed by Bill Ackman, holds the largest position in J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP). Pershing Square has a $287.8 million position in the stock, comprising 6.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Soros Fund Management, headed by George Soros, which held a $287.1 million position; the fund has 3.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Two more hedgies that are also bullish include Richard Perry’s Perry Capital, and Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer Management.
Also, insider buying is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP). These stocks are Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc (NASDAQ:SHOS), Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS), Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS), Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD), and Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS). This group of stocks are the members of the department stores industry and their market caps resemble JCP’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc (NASDAQ:SHOS) | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) | 20 | 0 | 0 |
These two tools–insider and hedge fund consensus filings–are what every investor should be aware of. These metrics give lots of market beating opportunities if you know where to look.
