Hedge Funds Are Buying Apollo Global Management LLC (APO)

A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO).

Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest recently. APO was in 21 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 18 hedge funds in our database with APO positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI), Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:TYL), and Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) to gather more data points.

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What does the smart money think about Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 21 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a gain of 17% from the second quarter of 2016. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, HMI Capital, managed by Mick Hellman, holds the most valuable position in Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO). HMI Capital has a $98.2 million position in the stock, comprising 16.3% of its 13F portfolio. On HMI Capital’s heels is GMT Capital, managed by Thomas E. Claugus, which holds a $66.6 million position; 1.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other professional money managers that are bullish contain Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Tom Gayner’s Markel Gayner Asset Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names have jumped into Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) headfirst. Mark Asset Management, managed by Morris Mark, initiated the largest position in Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO). Mark Asset Management had $2.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert Raiff’s Raiff Partners also made a $2.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new APO investors: Richard Driehaus’ Driehaus Capital, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) but similarly valued. These stocks are FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI), Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:TYL), Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD), and Commscope Holding Company Inc (NASDAQ:COMM). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to APO’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 36 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.20 billion. That figure was $273 million in APO’s case. Commscope Holding Company Inc (NASDAQ:COMM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:TYL) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) 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 COMM might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Disclosure: None