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 towards Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR).
Overall, Twitter registered an increase in support from the world’s elite money managers recently, but 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 Pembina Pipeline Corp (NYSE:PBA), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), and Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) to gather more data points.
Follow Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR)
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At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 18% gains over the past 12 months, more than doubling the 8% returns enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs.
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Now, we’re going to review the new action regarding Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR).
How have hedgies been trading Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)?
During the third quarter, the number of investors tracked by Insider Monkey that held shares of Twitter surged by 57%. In this way, 47 funds reported long positions in the company as of the end of September. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management has the largest call position in Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), worth close to $117.4 million, corresponding to 1.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Citadel Investment Group, led by Ken Griffin, holding a $113.6 million call position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other members of the smart money that hold long positions consist of Eric Mindich’s Eton Park Capital and Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners.
As aggregate interest increased, some big names were breaking ground themselves. James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management initiated a $97.8 million position during the third quarter quarter. Other funds with brand new TWTR positions are John Thiessen’s Vertex One Asset Management, Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital, and Andrew Goldman’s Seven Locks Capital Management.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Pembina Pipeline Corp (NYSE:PBA), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT), and Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to TWTR’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PBA | 11 | 46092 | -1 |
| CMG | 41 | 1595089 | 2 |
| FRT | 17 | 262426 | 5 |
| XLNX | 41 | 1176907 | 5 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 28 funds tracked by us with bullish positions at the end of September and the average amount invested in these stocks was $770 million. By comparison, the investors from our database amassed around $1.08 billion worth of Twitter’s stock at the end of September. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Pembina Pipeline Corp (NYSE:PBA) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
