Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK) was in 26 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. LUK investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late. There were 20 hedge funds in our database with LUK holdings at the end of the 
In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of metrics market participants can use to watch the equity markets. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can outperform the market by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are many motivations for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the key action surrounding Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK).
How are hedge funds trading Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK)?
At year’s end, a total of 26 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 30% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Bruce Berkowitz’s Fairholme (FAIRX) had the largest position in Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK), worth close to $426 million, comprising 6.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Fairholme (FAIRX)’s heels is Third Avenue Management, managed by Martin Whitman, which held a $127 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers with similar optimism include Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management, Charles Akre’s Akre Capital Management and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK) headfirst. JANA Partners, managed by Barry Rosenstein, assembled the biggest position in Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK). JANA Partners had 6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Sander Gerber’s Hudson Bay Capital Management also made a $6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, and Zeke Ashton’s Centaur Capital Partners.
How have insiders been trading Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK)?
Insider buying is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s research, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK) is no exception.
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