Hedge Funds Aren’t Overly Bullish on Publishing Stocks

#4. Gannett Co Inc. (NYSE:GCI)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 17

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $90.18 Million

The elite corner of the hedge fund industry that is tracked by Insider Monkey was mildly bullish on Gannett Co Inc. (NYSE:GCI) during the March quarter if solely relying on the number of funds with stakes in the company, which increased to 17 from 16 quarter-over-quarter. However, the dollar value of those stakes plunged by nearly 56% quarter-on-quarter to $90.18 million, partially owing to a 6% decline in the share price of the company’s stock. All in all, the bunch of hedge funds tracked by our team, which amassed 5% of Gannett’s outstanding common stock, was not bullish on the owner of USA Today after all. Gannett has been trying to acquire Tribune Publishing Co (NYSE:TPUB), but the publisher of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribute refused the $864 million offer proposed by Gannett. The bidder may abandon efforts to acquire Tribute, after the target’s shareholders re-elected the company’s board nominees at its recent annual meeting. Gannett shares are 4% in the red year-to-date. Howard Guberman’s Gruss Asset Management acquired a new stake of 653,000 shares of Gannett Co Inc. (NYSE:GCI) during the first quarter.

#3. New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:NEWM)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 18

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $103.62 Million

The number of asset managers from our system with long positions in New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:NEWM) remained unchanged at 18 during the January-to-March period, whereas the aggregate value of those positions fell to $103.62 million from $121.68 million quarter-over-quarter. The 18 money managers invested in the company hoarded up almost 14% of its total number of outstanding shares. The owner of local media assets, whose portfolio includes 620 publications, 521 websites, 460 mobile sites and six yellow page directories, has seen its shares go down by 10% since the beginning of 2016. Just recently, the company acquired Journal Multimedia, a publisher of B2B business publications, a trade magazine, a consumer magazine, digital products, as well as a research and events division. New Media Investment Group’s revenue for the first quarter that ended March 27 rose to $300.1 million $250.6 million due to a series of acquisitions. Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors reduced its exposure to New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:NEWM) by 17% during the March quarter to 3.20 million shares.