MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG) was in 16 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. MYRG shareholders have witnessed an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with MYRG holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
In the financial world, there are plenty of indicators shareholders can use to analyze their holdings. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outpace the market by a significant margin (see just how much).
Equally as key, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of motivations for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action surrounding MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG).
How are hedge funds trading MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG)?
At year’s end, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 33% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.
According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the largest position in MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG). Royce & Associates has a $14.8 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider of SG Capital Management, with a $10.3 million position; the fund has 5.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies, Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, assembled the most outsized position in MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG). Driehaus Capital had 1.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors also initiated a $0.7 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new MYRG investors: Israel Englander’s Catapult Capital Management, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital, and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.
Insider trading activity in MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG)
Insider buying is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG). These stocks are Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR), Emcor Group Inc (NYSE:EME), Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:IESC), Pike Electric Corporation (NYSE:PIKE), and Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX). This group of stocks are in the general contractors industry and their market caps are closest to MYRG’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR) | 29 | 0 | 15 |
| Emcor Group Inc (NYSE:EME) | 20 | 0 | 11 |
| Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:IESC) | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Pike Electric Corporation (NYSE:PIKE) | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX) | 7 | 0 | 5 |
With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned research, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
