At the moment, there are a multitude of methods market participants can use to watch their holdings. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outperform the market by a significant amount (see just how much).
Just as useful, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to look at the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of reasons for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
What’s more, it’s important to discuss the latest info about National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI).
What have hedge funds been doing with National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -7% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Wallace Weitz’s Wallace R. Weitz & Co. had the largest position in National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI), worth close to $32.4 million, accounting for 1.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Ryan Frick and Oliver Evans of Dorsal Capital Management, with a $19 million position; 3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners, Geoffrey Raynor’s Q Investments (Specter Holdings) and Charles Clough’s Clough Capital Partners.
Since National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) has faced dropping sentiment from the smart money’s best and brightest, it’s safe to say that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers who sold off their entire stakes at the end of the second quarter. Intriguingly, Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital dumped the biggest stake of the 450+ funds we track, totaling an estimated $4.7 million in stock, and Bill Miller of Legg Mason Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.6 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds at the end of the second quarter.
How have insiders been trading National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI). These stocks are Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS), Millennial Media, Inc. (NYSE:MM), MDC Partners Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:MDCA), Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB), and Valassis Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCI). This group of stocks are in the marketing services industry and their market caps match NCMI’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Millennial Media, Inc. (NYSE:MM) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| MDC Partners Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:MDCA) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Valassis Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCI) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
Using the returns explained by our strategies, regular investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) is no exception.
