Taubman Centers, Inc. (TCO): Hedge Funds and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO) was in 15 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. TCO has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with TCO holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO)

In today’s marketplace, there are many methods market participants can use to monitor stocks. Two of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outpace the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is another way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many stimuli for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a glance at the key action encompassing Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO).

Hedge fund activity in Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO)

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -6% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

Of the funds we track, D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, holds the most valuable position in Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO). D E Shaw has a $95 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $64.1 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, John Khoury’s Long Pond Capital and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Seeing as Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of fund managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Ken Heebner’s Capital Growth Management said goodbye to the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, valued at about $78.7 million in stock.. Glenn Russell Dubin’s fund, Highbridge Capital Management, also cut its stock, about $1.9 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into Q2.

Insider trading activity in Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO). These stocks are Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE:HPT), CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL), Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI), DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR), and Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG). This group of stocks are in the reit – retail industry and their market caps are closest to TCO’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE:HPT) 9 1 1
CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL) 11 1 4
Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) 12 0 3
DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR) 11 0 6
Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG) 11 0 3

With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s research, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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