Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC)?

Here’s some Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) data you should pay attention to.

To the average investor, there are a multitude of indicators market participants can use to analyze Mr. Market. A couple of the most innovative 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 money managers can trounce the broader indices by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as useful, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a number of reasons for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

Thus, it’s important to analyze the latest info about Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC).

What does the smart money think about Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -17% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.

Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC)According to our 13F database, Matt McLennan’s First Eagle Investment Management had the most valuable position in Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC), worth close to $557 million, comprising 1.7% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Pzena Investment Management, managed by Richard S. Pzena, which held a $481.7 million position; 3.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Natixis Global Asset Management’s Harris Associates, John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.

Since Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) has faced a fall in interest from the smart money’s best and brightest, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedgies who sold off their entire stakes at the end of the second quarter. Intriguingly, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management dumped the largest stake of the 450+ funds we monitor, worth close to $8.2 million in stock. Philippe Jabre’s fund, Jabre Capital Partners, also cut its stock, about $4.7 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds at the end of the second quarter.

How are insiders trading Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) has seen zero unique insiders buying, 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 Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC). These stocks are Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW), Focus Media Holding Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:FMCN), Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR), Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG), and WPP PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:WPPGY). All of these stocks are in the advertising agencies industry and their market caps are similar to OMC’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW) 17 0 0
Focus Media Holding Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:FMCN) 26 0 0
Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR) 45 0 0
Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG) 22 0 0
WPP PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:WPPGY) 8 0 0

Using the results shown by Insider Monkey’s research, average investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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