Should You Avoid Linear Technology Corporation (LLTC)?

Judging by the fact that Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:LLTC) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there were a few hedge funds that elected to cut their full holdings heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital dropped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, worth about $35.4 million in call options.. Leon Shaulov’s fund, Maplelane Capital, also sold off its call options, valued at roughly $17.7 million. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 9 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:LLTC). These stocks are Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE), Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN), C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW), and Autoliv Inc. (NYSE:ALV). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to LLTC’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 31 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.03 billion. That figure was $1.64 billion in LLTC’s case. Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Autoliv Inc. (NYSE:ALV) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:LLTC) 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 SEE might be a better candidate to consider a long position.