The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the September quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge fund investors experienced strong gains on the back of a strong market performance, which certainly propelled them to adjust their equity holdings so as to maintain the desired risk profile. As a result, the relevancy of these public filings and their content is indisputable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN).
Is Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN) a buy, sell, or hold? The smart money was turning less bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund positions were trimmed by 1 lately. Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN) was in 3 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. The all time high for this statistics is 4. Our calculations also showed that CLSN isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks). There were 4 hedge funds in our database with CLSN holdings at the end of June.
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit there are numerous indicators stock traders put to use to value stocks. Some of the most under-the-radar indicators are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a significant margin (see the details here).
John Overdeck of Two Sigma Advisors
At Insider Monkey we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, Federal Reserve has been creating trillions of dollars electronically to keep the interest rates near zero. We believe this will lead to inflation and boost real estate prices. So, we recommended this real estate stock to our monthly premium newsletter subscribers. We go through lists like the 10 most profitable companies in the world to pick the best large-cap stocks to buy. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our website.Now we’re going to take a gander at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN).
How are hedge funds trading Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN)?
At the end of September, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -25% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards CLSN over the last 21 quarters. So, let’s check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically, Two Sigma Advisors was the largest shareholder of Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN), with a stake worth $0.3 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Two Sigma Advisors was Renaissance Technologies, which amassed a stake valued at $0.1 million. Citadel Investment Group was also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Two Sigma Advisors allocated the biggest weight to Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN), around 0.0008% of its 13F portfolio. Renaissance Technologies is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.0001 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CLSN.
We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: Millennium Management. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn’t always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don’t think this is the case in this case because none of the 750+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified CLSN as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN). These stocks are Kewaunee Scientific Corporation (NASDAQ:KEQU), Acorda Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ACOR), Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:APVO), Abraxas Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ:AXAS), Alimera Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:ALIM), Salem Media Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SALM), and Psychemedics Corp. (NASDAQ:PMD). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to CLSN’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| KEQU | 3 | 1937 | 0 |
| ACOR | 7 | 3257 | -6 |
| APVO | 2 | 2315 | -2 |
| AXAS | 5 | 194 | -5 |
| ALIM | 6 | 4298 | 1 |
| SALM | 2 | 424 | 0 |
| PMD | 4 | 3002 | 0 |
| Average | 4.1 | 2204 | -1.7 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 4.1 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2 million. That figure was $1 million in CLSN’s case. Acorda Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ACOR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:APVO) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for CLSN is 36.5. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.3% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10 percentage points. These stocks gained 28.1% in 2020 through November 23rd and surpassed the market again by 15.4 percentage points. Unfortunately CLSN wasn’t nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); CLSN investors were disappointed as the stock returned -27.4% since the end of September (through 11/23) and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds as most of these stocks already outperformed the market in 2020.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
