Is MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG) a good place to invest some of your money right now? We can gain invaluable insight to help us answer that question by studying the investment trends of top investors, who employ world-class Ivy League graduates, who are given immense resources and industry contacts to put their financial expertise to work. The top picks of these firms have historically outperformed the market when we account for known risk factors, making them very valuable investment ideas.
Is MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG) a buy right now? Prominent investors are taking a bearish view. The number of long hedge fund positions dropped by 2 recently. 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 Triangle Capital Corporation (NYSE:TCAP), Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY), and PC Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCCC) to gather more data points.
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If you’d ask most stock holders, hedge funds are viewed as underperforming, old investment tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds trading today, our researchers hone in on the crème de la crème of this group, approximately 700 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people shepherd bulk of the smart money’s total capital, and by paying attention to their unrivaled investments, Insider Monkey has found a few investment strategies that have historically exceeded Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per annum for a decade in their back tests.
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the key action regarding MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG).
What does the smart money think about MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG)?
Heading into Q4, a total of 14 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a decline of 13% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund and institutional investor database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates has the biggest position in MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG), worth close to $43.9 million, amounting to 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by John A. Levin of Levin Capital Strategies, with a $11 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism comprise Renaissance Technologies, Bryant Regan’s Lafitte Capital Management, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Since MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG) has faced a falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of money managers who were dropping their entire stakes by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Richard Driehaus’ Driehaus Capital cut the biggest investment of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $2.7 million in stock. Jeffrey Moskowitz’s fund, Harvey Partners, also dropped its stock, about $2.3 million worth of shares. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds by the end of the third quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG). We will take a look at Triangle Capital Corporation (NYSE:TCAP), Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY), PC Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCCC), and Fly Leasing Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:FLY). This group of stocks’ market values resembles Is MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG)’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| TCAP | 6 | 7140 | 1 |
| MRCY | 18 | 125643 | 4 |
| PCCC | 8 | 58525 | 0 |
| FLY | 10 | 49545 | -1 |
As you can see, these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $60 million. That figure was $80 million in Is MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG)’s case. Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Triangle Capital Corporation (NYSE:TCAP) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG) 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 Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
