World-class money managers like Ken Griffin and Barry Rosenstein only invest their wealthy clients’ money after undertaking a rigorous examination of any potential stock. They are particularly successful in this regard when it comes to small-cap stocks, which their peerless research gives them a big information advantage on when it comes to judging their worth. It’s not surprising then that they generate their biggest returns from these stocks and invest more of their money in these stocks on average than other investors. It’s also not surprising then that we pay close attention to these picks ourselves and have built a market-beating investment strategy around them.
Match Group Inc(NASDAQ:MTCH) investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. MTCH was in 19 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with MTCH holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare MTCH to other stocks including Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR), Orbital ATK Inc (NYSE:OA), and Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Match Group Holdings Ii (Old) (NASDAQ:MTCH)
Follow Match Group Holdings Ii (Old) (NASDAQ:MTCH)
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What does the smart money think about Match Group Inc(NASDAQ:MTCH)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, up by 19% from the second quarter of 2016. On the other hand, there were a total of 18 hedge funds with a bullish position in MTCH at the beginning of this year. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management has the largest position in Match Group Inc(NASDAQ:MTCH), worth close to $13 million. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Seymour Sy Kaufman and Michael Stark of Crosslink Capital, with a $11.7 million position; 2.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions encompass Clint Murray’s Lodge Hill Capital, Principal Global Investors’ Columbus Circle Investors and Joshua Nash’s Ulysses Management. We should note that two of these hedge funds (Lodge Hill Capital and Ulysses Management) are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.
Now, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Lodge Hill Capital assembled the most outsized position in Match Group Inc(NASDAQ:MTCH) which had $9.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Columbus Circle Investors also initiated a $9.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MTCH positions are Will Cook’s Sunriver Management, Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital, and Frank Slattery’s Symmetry Peak Management.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Match Group Inc(NASDAQ:MTCH) but similarly valued. These stocks are Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR), Orbital ATK Inc (NYSE:OA), Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK), and Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CNK). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to MTCH’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFR | 13 | 65558 | -1 |
| OA | 33 | 507862 | 1 |
| GPK | 32 | 936168 | -4 |
| CNK | 17 | 281357 | -1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 24 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $448 million. That figure was $90 million in MTCH’s case. Orbital ATK Inc (NYSE:OA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Match Group Inc(NASDAQ:MTCH) 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 OA might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.
Disclosure: None
