What Hedge Funds Think About MasTec, Inc. (MTZ)

Is MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ) a buy?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of indicators investors can use to monitor the equity markets. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can beat the S&P 500 by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as useful, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of motivations for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).

Thus, let’s study the newest info for MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ).

Hedge fund activity in MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ)

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -26% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

According to our 13F database, Peconic Partners LLC, managed by William Harnisch, holds the most valuable position in MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ). Peconic Partners LLC has a $70.1 million position in the stock, comprising 9.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Donald Chiboucis of Columbus Circle Investors, with a $49.4 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that are bullish include David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Because MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ) has witnessed dropping sentiment from the top-tier hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedgies that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Andrew Sandler’s Sandler Capital Management dumped the largest stake of all the hedgies we key on, worth about $20.1 million in stock. Peter Rathjens Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s fund, Arrowstreet Capital, also sold off its stock, about $4.7 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 7 funds heading into Q2.

How are insiders trading MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ). These stocks are Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM), Granite Construction Inc. (NYSE:GVA), McDermott International (NYSE:MDR), Empresas ICA SA (ADR) (NYSE:ICA), and Foster Wheeler AG (NASDAQ:FWLT). All of these stocks are in the heavy construction industry and their market caps match MTZ’s market cap.