How PICO Holdings Inc (PICO) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

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PICO Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PICO) investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late. PICO was in 10 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2016. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with PICO holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare PICO to other stocks including RigNet Inc (NASDAQ:RNET), JP Energy Partners LP (NYSE:JPEP), and Macatawa Bank Corporation (NASDAQ:MCBC) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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Hedge fund activity in PICO Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PICO)

Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, up by 25% from the second quarter of 2016. On the other hand, there were a total of 10 hedge funds with a bullish position in PICO at the beginning of this year. So, let’s review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.

HedgeFundSentimentChart

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates holds the most valuable position in PICO Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PICO). Royce & Associates has a $17 million position in the stock. Coming in second is Kelly Cardwell of Central Square Management holding a $13.4 million position; 23.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining professional money managers that hold long positions contain Gregory Bylinsky and Jefferson Gramm’s Bandera Partners, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management. We should note that Central Square Management is among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw created the largest position in PICO Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PICO). D E Shaw had $0.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also initiated a $0.1 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new PICO position is Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as PICO Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PICO) but similarly valued. We will take a look at RigNet Inc (NASDAQ:RNET), JP Energy Partners LP (NYSE:JPEP), Macatawa Bank Corporation (NASDAQ:MCBC), and TRC Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRR). All of these stocks’ market caps match PICO’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
RNET 7 14157 0
JPEP 3 2470 -1
MCBC 2 8021 0
TRR 6 24766 0

As you can see these stocks had an average of 4 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $12 million. That figure was $44 million in PICO’s case. RigNet Inc (NASDAQ:RNET) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Macatawa Bank Corporation (NASDAQ:MCBC) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks PICO Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PICO) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.

Disclosure: None