Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (ARCO): Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About It, Insider Sentiment Unchanged

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To the average investor, there are many methods shareholders can use to track stocks. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to look at the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are plenty of stimuli for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s examine the newest info surrounding Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (NYSE:ARCO).

Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (NYSE:ARCO)

How are hedge funds trading Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (NYSE:ARCO)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -10% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Tiger Consumer Management, managed by Patrick McCormack, holds the largest position in Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (NYSE:ARCO). Tiger Consumer Management has a $19 million position in the stock, comprising 0.7% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Israel Englander of Millennium Management, with a $2 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Richard C. Patton’s Courage Capital.

As Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (NYSE:ARCO) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the top-tier hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies who were dropping their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Charles Clough’s Clough Capital Partners dropped the largest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, worth about $9.7 million in stock. Howard Marks’s fund, Oaktree Capital Management, also cut its stock, about $4.1 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (NYSE:ARCO)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (NYSE:ARCO) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (NYSE:ARCO). These stocks are The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE), Bloomin’ Brands Inc (NASDAQ:BLMN), The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN), Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE:DPZ), and Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT). This group of stocks are in the restaurants industry and their market caps are closest to ARCO’s market cap.

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