This Metric Says You Are Smart to Sell LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (LPL)

Is LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL) a healthy stock for your portfolio? The best stock pickers are selling. The number of bullish hedge fund bets dropped by 2 in recent months.

To the average investor, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to analyze Mr. Market. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see just how much).

LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL)

Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the marketplace. There are a variety of incentives for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if you understand where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the recent action surrounding LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL).

What have hedge funds been doing with LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -20% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the biggest position in LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL). Renaissance Technologies has a $8.9 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, which held a $6.8 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Jane Mendillo’s Harvard Management Co.

Judging by the fact that LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL) has faced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there were a few money managers who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q2. Interestingly, Sander Gerber’s Hudson Bay Capital Management cut the largest position of the 450+ funds we key on, worth close to $0.8 million in stock., and Mike Vranos of Ellington was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $0.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into Q2.

How have insiders been trading LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL). These stocks are Molex Incorporated (NASDAQ:MOLX), Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW), TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL), Kyocera Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KYO), and Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH). This group of stocks are the members of the diversified electronics industry and their market caps are closest to LPL’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Molex Incorporated (NASDAQ:MOLX) 16 0 0
Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) 40 1 0
TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) 23 0 12
Kyocera Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KYO) 2 0 0
Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) 17 0 15

With the returns shown by our tactics, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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