Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Manhattan Associates, Inc. (MANH)

The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the March 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 Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH).

Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH) investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months. Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH) was in 28 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. The all time high for this statistic was previously 25. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. Our calculations also showed that MANH isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings).

Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that a select group of hedge fund holdings outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by 115 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.

Noam Gottesman GLG Partners

Noam Gottesman of GLG Partners

At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, economists warn of inflation flare up. So, we are checking out this backdoor gold play that has hit peak gains of 718% in a little over a year. We go through lists like the 10 best battery stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. 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 homepage. With all of this in mind we’re going to go over the latest hedge fund action encompassing Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH).

Do Hedge Funds Think MANH Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 28 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 22% from the fourth quarter of 2020. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards MANH over the last 23 quarters. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

Is MANH A Good Stock To Buy?

The largest stake in Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH) was held by RGM Capital, which reported holding $93 million worth of stock at the end of December. It was followed by Royce & Associates with a $54.7 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Shannon River Fund Management, Arrowstreet Capital, and GLG Partners. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position RGM Capital allocated the biggest weight to Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH), around 4.07% of its 13F portfolio. Shannon River Fund Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 3.28 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to MANH.

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Tudor Investment Corp, managed by Paul Tudor Jones, initiated the most outsized position in Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH). Tudor Investment Corp had $3.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Thomas Lee’s Lee Capital Management also made a $1.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Donald Sussman’s Paloma Partners, and Phil Frohlich’s Prescott Group Capital Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO), United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR), ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL), Brunswick Corporation (NYSE:BC), TELUS International (Cda) Inc. (NYSE:TIXT), IAA, Inc. (NYSE:IAA), and ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CHPT). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to MANH’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
THO 21 183769 -3
UTHR 42 2116890 6
ICL 4 43595 -1
BC 42 1037373 6
TIXT 10 36105 10
IAA 35 1199081 0
CHPT 24 207630 24
Average 25.4 689206 6

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 25.4 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $689 million. That figure was $303 million in MANH’s case. United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand ICL Group Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for MANH is 71.6. 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. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 24% in 2021 through July 9th and still beat the market by 6.7 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on MANH as the stock returned 25.8% since the end of Q1 (through 7/9) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.