Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC) was in 10 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. LANC has seen an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with LANC positions at the end of the previous quarter.
In today’s marketplace, there are plenty of methods investors can use to analyze Mr. Market. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are a variety of motivations for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if you know what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action surrounding Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC).
What does the smart money think about Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the most valuable position in Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC), worth close to $83 million, accounting for 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Donald Yacktman of Yacktman Asset Management, with a $32 million position; 0% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Roger Keith Long’s Otter Creek Management.
As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have jumped into Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC) headfirst. Tudor Investment Corp, managed by Paul Tudor Jones, created the biggest position in Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC). Tudor Investment Corp had 1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors also made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
How have insiders been trading Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC). These stocks are Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOLE), Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM), Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFM), Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST), and The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV). This group of stocks belong to the food – major diversified industry and their market caps match LANC’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOLE) | 15 | 0 | 2 |
| Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) | 9 | 0 | 1 |
| Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFM) | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST) | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
With the results shown by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC) is an important part of this process.
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