We at Insider Monkey have gone over 821 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the SEC The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, near the height of the coronavirus market crash. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Superior Uniform Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGC) based on that data.
Superior Uniform Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGC) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund sentiment lately. SGC was in 3 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. There were 4 hedge funds in our database with SGC positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that SGC isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
Hedge funds’ reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 44 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that’ll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 36% through May 18th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group
At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, legendary investor Bill Miller told investors to sell 7 extremely popular recession stocks last month. So, we went through his list and recommended another stock with 100% upside potential instead. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. You can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here and find out the name of the large-cap healthcare stock that Sio Capital’s Michael Castor expects to double. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind we’re going to take a gander at the latest hedge fund action surrounding Superior Uniform Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGC).
What does smart money think about Superior Uniform Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGC)?
Heading into the second quarter of 2020, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -25% from the fourth quarter of 2019. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards SGC over the last 18 quarters. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Renaissance Technologies has the largest position in Superior Uniform Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGC), worth close to $1.6 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. On Renaissance Technologies’s heels is Steamboat Capital Partners, managed by Parsa Kiai, which holds a $0.8 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Steamboat Capital Partners allocated the biggest weight to Superior Uniform Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGC), around 0.16% of its 13F portfolio. Renaissance Technologies is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.0016 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to SGC.
Because Superior Uniform Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGC) has experienced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there is a sect of money managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Frederick DiSanto’s Ancora Advisors dumped the biggest investment of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, worth about $0.2 million in stock. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also dumped its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds by the end of the third quarter.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Superior Uniform Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGC). These stocks are Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRTH), Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT), Sierra Metals Inc. (NYSE:SMTS), and Level One Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LEVL). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to SGC’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRTH | 3 | 1111 | 0 |
| LQDT | 7 | 17843 | -1 |
| SMTS | 1 | 181 | -1 |
| LEVL | 3 | 659 | 0 |
| Average | 3.5 | 4949 | -0.5 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 3.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $5 million. That figure was $3 million in SGC’s case. Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sierra Metals Inc. (NYSE:SMTS) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Superior Uniform Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGC) 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. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 7.9% in 2020 through May 22nd and surpassed the market by 15.6 percentage points. Unfortunately SGC wasn’t nearly as popular as these 10 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); SGC investors were disappointed as the stock returned 12.9% during the second quarter and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds as most of these stocks already outperformed the market in 2020.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
