Hedge Funds Remain Cautious of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (JLL)

Is Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE:JLL) a good bet right now? We like to analyze hedge fund sentiment before doing days of in-depth research. We do so because hedge funds and other elite investors have numerous Ivy league graduates, expert network advisers, and supply chain tipsters working or consulting for them. There is not a shortage of news stories covering failed hedge fund investments (for some reason media paid a ton of attention to Ackman’s gigantic JC Penney and Valeant failures) and it is a fact that hedge funds’ picks don’t beat the market 100% of the time, but their consensus picks have historically done very well and have outperformed the market after adjusting for risk.

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE:JLL) investors should be aware of a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG), AMC Networks Inc (NASDAQ:AMCX), and Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) to gather more data points.

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How have hedgies been trading Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE:JLL)?

Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 24 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a drop of 11% from the previous quarter. The stock has now seen a drop in hedge fund ownership for three-straight quarters, although the quarterly drops have been relatively small. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, David Blood and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management has the most valuable position in Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE:JLL), worth close to $317.2 million, corresponding to 3.4% of its total 13F portfolio. On Generation Investment Management’s heels is Ariel Investments, led by John W. Rogers, holding a $169.4 million position; the fund has 2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include John Smith Clark’s Southpoint Capital Advisors, Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates.

Since Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE:JLL) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there were a few fund managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely in the third quarter. Intriguingly, George Hall’s Clinton Group dropped the biggest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $10.9 million in stock, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $2.8 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE:JLL) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG), AMC Networks Inc (NASDAQ:AMCX), Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH), and Communications Sales & Leasing Inc (NASDAQ:CSAL). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to JLL’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $316 million. That figure was $799 million in JLL’s case. AMC Networks Inc (NASDAQ:AMCX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE:JLL) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard AMCX might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.

Disclosure: None