Loews Corporation (L): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It But Hedge Funds Love It

If you were to ask many traders, hedge funds are viewed as overrated, old financial vehicles of a forgotten age. Although there are over 8,000 hedge funds trading currently, Insider Monkey focuses on the top tier of this club, around 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group has its hands on the majority of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by monitoring their highest quality equity investments, we’ve identified a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Just as crucial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are plenty of reasons for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s study the recent info surrounding Loews Corporation (NYSE:L).

What does the smart money think about Loews Corporation (NYSE:L)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 5% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Southeastern Asset Management, managed by Mason Hawkins, holds the biggest position in Loews Corporation (NYSE:L). Southeastern Asset Management has a $1.6345 billion position in the stock, comprising 8% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Eagle Capital Management, managed by Boykin Curry, which held a $539.4 million position; the fund has 2.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain bigger names have jumped into Loews Corporation (NYSE:L) headfirst. Southeastern Asset Management, managed by Mason Hawkins, created the biggest position in Loews Corporation (NYSE:L). Southeastern Asset Management had 1.6345 billion invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management also made a $539.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new L positions are Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Loews Corporation (NYSE:L)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Loews Corporation (NYSE:L) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Loews Corporation (NYSE:L). These stocks are ACE Limited (NYSE:ACE), Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE:HIG), The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL), The Chubb Corporation (NYSE:CB), and The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR). All of these stocks are in the property & casualty insurance industry and their market caps are similar to L’s market cap.

Using the results explained by our studies, regular investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Loews Corporation (NYSE:L) is an important part of this process.

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