Is Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN) a buy here? Money managers are taking a bullish view. The number of long hedge fund positions moved up by 1 lately.
At the moment, there are dozens of metrics investors can use to watch Mr. Market. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can outperform the market by a superb margin (see just how much).
Just as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if investors know where to look (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a gander at the recent action regarding Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN).
What have hedge funds been doing with Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 8% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Mason Hawkins’s Southeastern Asset Management had the most valuable position in Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN), worth close to $221.9 million, comprising 1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Southeastern Asset Management’s heels is Jeffrey Tannenbaum of Fir Tree, with a $40.6 million position; the fund has 0.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management, John Wu’s Sureview Capital and Abby Flamholz and Yehuda Blinder’s ADAR Investment Management.
As aggregate interest increased, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Fir Tree, managed by Jeffrey Tannenbaum, initiated the most outsized position in Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN). Fir Tree had 40.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital also initiated a $3.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, and John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies.
How are insiders trading Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN)?
Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN). These stocks are Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc (NYSE:PNK), Ameristar Casinos, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASCA), Penn National Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:PENN), Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp (NYSE:VAC), and Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR). All of these stocks are in the resorts & casinos industry and their market caps resemble MTN’s market cap.
