CARBO Ceramics Inc. (CRR): Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About It, Insider Sentiment Unchanged

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In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of methods shareholders can use to analyze publicly traded companies. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can outclass the market by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of stimuli for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

CARBO Ceramics Inc.

Thus, let’s analyze the latest info surrounding CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE:CRR).

What does the smart money think about CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE:CRR)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -8% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE:CRR). Royce & Associates has a $50.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Markel Gayner Asset Management, managed by Tom Gayner, which held a $14.7 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Since CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE:CRR) has faced declining interest from the smart money’s best and brightest, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers that decided to sell off their full holdings at the end of the second quarter. Interestingly, Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management dumped the largest investment of the 450+ funds we key on, worth an estimated $30.4 million in call options.. Dmitry Balyasny’s fund, Balyasny Asset Management, also cut its call options., about $7.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds at the end of the second quarter.

How have insiders been trading CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE:CRR)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time frame, CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE:CRR) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE:CRR). These stocks are Precision Drilling Corp (USA) (NYSE:PDS), Exterran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EXH), Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX), Lufkin Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUFK), and Energy XXI (Bermuda) Limited (NASDAQ:EXXI). All of these stocks are in the oil & gas equipment & services industry and their market caps are similar to CRR’s market cap.

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