The CEO and President Ups His Stakes at Carmike Cinemas, Inc. (CKEC)

On Jan. 15th, David S Passman, President and Chief Executive Officer at Carmike Cinemas, Inc. (NASDAQ:CKEC), filed a Form 4 report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, declaring a purchase of the company’s stock. The insider acquired 207 shares for $27.20 per common unit. After the reported transactions, he directly owns 295,719 shares. *

Carmike Cinemas, Inc. (NASDAQ:CKEC) is, as its name clearly indicates, a motion picture exhibitor that owns and operates 249 theatres with 2,502 screens located in 35 states in the United States. Trading at only 5.2 times its earnings, less than 1/3 of the industry average valuation, while offering industry leading returns on equity and assets, this stock looks like a catch. In fact, most analysts consider this company´s stock to be a buy or strong buy case, even in spite of its high debt levels (debt-to-equity ratio is 1.8 x, compared to an industry mean of 0.7 x).

Besides analysts and Mr. Passman, hedge funds also seem to like Carmike Cinemas, Inc. (NASDAQ:CKEC). In its last 13F form, Zac Hirzel’s Hirzel Capital Management – the largest “hedge fund bull” – declared an increase of 121% in its position in the stock. The fund now holds more than 1.75 million shares, valued at approximately $46 million. This position comprised 6.5% of the Hirzel Capital Management’s Q3 equity portfolio.

Second, in terms of bullish sentiment, is Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners, which also augmented its bets on Carmike Cinemas, Inc. (NASDAQ:CKEC) over the last reported quarter. The fund upped its stakes by 6%, and owned more 1.72 million shares at the end of the third quarter, which accounted for 4.89% of its total equity portfolio holdings.

Finally, third in line is Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies. It seems like Simons’ formula must have detected something interesting in Carmike Cinemas, Inc. (NASDAQ:CKEC)´s stock, as the fund boosted its involvement in the company by 42% in its last reported quarter. Simons’ fund now owns 741,200 shares.

*Includes 20,000 shares of restricted stock granted on March 11, 2011 (previously reported) which will vest on March 11, 2014, 30,000 shares of restricted stock granted on March 15, 2012 (previously reported) which will vest on March 11, 2014, 30,000 shares of restricted stock granted on March 15, 2012 (previously reported) which will vest on March 15, 2015, 30,000 shares of restricted stock (previously reported) which will vest on February 28, 2016, and 33,600 performance shares (previously reported) which will be issued in 2015, in all cases provided Reporting Person remains continuously employed until each vesting date.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no position in any stocks mentioned

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