Is Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBGI) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest lately.

To most investors, hedge funds are seen as unimportant, old investment vehicles of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at present, we look at the crème de la crème of this club, around 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by tracking their best picks, we have brought to light a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).

Equally as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the financial markets. There are a number of stimuli for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the latest action regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI).

Hedge fund activity in Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI)

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 43% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI)Of the funds we track, SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, holds the most valuable position in Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI). SAC Capital Advisors has a $30.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Tiger Global Management LLC, managed by Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan, which held a $18.4 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Don Morgan’s Brigade Capital, Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management and Daniel Lewis’s Orange Capital.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have jumped into Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) headfirst. SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, assembled the largest position in Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI). SAC Capital Advisors had 30.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC also initiated a $18.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management, Daniel Lewis’s Orange Capital, and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

How are insiders trading Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI). These stocks are Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI), Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST), LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL), Belo Corp. (NYSE:BLC), and CTC Media, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTCM). This group of stocks are in the broadcasting – tv industry and their market caps are closest to SBGI’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI) 8 4 2
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) 21 1 9
LIN TV Corp (NYSE:TVL) 11 0 6
Belo Corp. (NYSE:BLC) 16 0 4
CTC Media, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTCM) 14 0 0

With the results exhibited by our research, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) is an important part of this process.

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