What Are Smart J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCP) Investors Doing?

Is J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) worth your attention right now? The best stock pickers are becoming more confident. The number of bullish hedge fund positions advanced by 3 in recent months.

To the average investor, there are tons of methods market participants can use to monitor the equity markets. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can beat their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as important, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. Obviously, there are many motivations for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a look at the recent action surrounding J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP).

What have hedge funds been doing with J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 36 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 9% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Pershing Square, managed by Bill Ackman, holds the biggest position in J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP). Pershing Square has a $590.4 million position in the stock, comprising 5.9% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital, with a $144.4 million position; 1.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that are bullish include Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC, and Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer Management.

Now, key money managers have jumped into J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) headfirst. Tiger Global Management LLC, managed by Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan, initiated the largest position in J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP). Tiger Global Management LLC had 80.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group also initiated a $68 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new JCP investors: Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt..

How are insiders trading J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results demonstrated by our studies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) applies perfectly to this mantra.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds