Landstar System, Inc. (LSTR): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Undecided, What Should You Do?

Is it smart to be bullish on Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR)?

In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of gauges shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as useful, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are many stimuli for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

Furthermore, let’s analyze the recent info surrounding Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR).

What does the smart money think about Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 20% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR). Royce & Associates has a $129 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $16.3 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

As industrywide interest increased, certain bigger names have been driving this bullishness. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, created the largest position in Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR). Royce & Associates had 129 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also made a $16.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

How are insiders trading Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR). These stocks are Knight Transportation (NYSE:KNX), Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN), Con-way Inc (NYSE:CNW), Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT), and Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL). This group of stocks belong to the trucking industry and their market caps are closest to LSTR’s market cap.