Hedge Funds Are Dumping Liberty Media Corporation – Series C Liberty Media (LMCK)

Hedge funds run by legendary names like Nelson Peltz and David Tepper make billions of dollars a year for themselves and their super-rich accredited investors (you’ve got to have a minimum of $1 million liquid to invest in a hedge fund) by spending enormous resources on analyzing and uncovering data about small-cap stocks that the big brokerage houses don’t follow. Small caps are where they can generate significant out-performance. These stocks have been on a tear since the end of June, outperforming large-cap index funds by more than 10 percentage points. That’s why we pay special attention to hedge fund activity in these stocks.

Is Liberty Media Corporation – Series C Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LMCK) the right investment to pursue these days? The best stock pickers are getting less bullish. The number of long hedge fund positions decreased by 1 in recent months. At the end of this article we will also compare LMCK to other stocks including EQT Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:EQM), Axalta Coating Systems Ltd (NYSE:AXTA), and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp (NYSE:WAB) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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What does the smart money think about Liberty Media Corporation – Series C Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LMCK)?

Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a 5% slide from the second quarter of 2016, and the third-straight quarter with a decline. Smart money ownership has crumbled by more than 50% in the last 3 quarters. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management has the number one position in Liberty Media Corporation – Series C Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LMCK), worth close to $233.6 million, amounting to 2.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Ashe Capital, led by William Crowley, William Harker, and Stephen Blass, holding a $139.3 million position; the fund has 14.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other professional money managers that are bullish encompass Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Michael Lowenstein’s Kensico Capital and Crispin Odey’s Odey Asset Management Group.

Due to the fact that Liberty Media Corporation – Series C Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LMCK) has witnessed declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of funds who were dropping their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Michael Hintze’s CQS Cayman LP cut the biggest stake of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, worth about $6.7 million in stock. John Thiessen’s fund, Vertex One Asset Management, also dumped its stock, about $1.8 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 fund by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Liberty Media Corporation – Series C Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LMCK) but similarly valued. We will take a look at EQT Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:EQM), Axalta Coating Systems Ltd (NYSE:AXTA), Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp (NYSE:WAB), and Aqua America Inc (NYSE:WTR). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to LMCK’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 24 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $896 million. That figure was $651 million in LMCK’s case. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd (NYSE:AXTA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand EQT Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:EQM) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Liberty Media Corporation – Series C Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LMCK) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard AXTA might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.

Disclosure: None