A Trio Of LinkedIn Corp (LNKD) Indicators To Watch

In today’s market place, there are plenty of indicators for LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) investors to keep an eye on, but it’s useful to take note of a company’s short sellers. Two metrics typically used are: (a) the fraction of a company’s float that bears are presently selling, plus (b) the change in short interest.

More shorting usually indicates what it implies: the market’s big players have grown less optimistic about the stock. Overselling, though, sometimes has a bullish effect on share price, as short-ers may be forced to cover their positions.

Within Insider Monkey, it’s not a secret that we monitor hedgies’ sentiment, but it’s also crucial to combine this information with overall short sale information. In certain instances, big time investors might indicate that they’re bearish on a certain stock, but it’s not an SEC requirement. Nevertheless, some individual investors might wish to stay away from heavily short sold companies with high hedgie investment, while others might desire short-squeeze opportunities. For traders looking for a time-tested piggybacking strategy, discover the details of our premium strategy.

Let’s take a look at the key data pertaining to LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD).

Analyzing the newest FINRA data, which is released twice a month, we can see that LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) sports a short interest of 5.20% of float. With a total float of 90.50M shares, this reveals a short ratio of 1.60.

It is also beneficial to take note of hedge fund sentiment from their 13F filings. According to our data, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the biggest position in LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD). Renaissance Technologies has a $176.6 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. The 2nd biggest stake is held by Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Donald Chiboucis, which held a $155.1 million position; the fund has 1.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management and Paul Ruddock and Steve Heinz’s Lansdowne Partners.

Also, insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 13 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review activity in other stocks similar to LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD). These stocks are Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM), Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP), Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX), Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO). This group of stocks are in the internet information providers industry and their market caps are closest to LNKD’s market cap.

These three indicators–short sale information, hedge fund data and insider sentiment–are something all investors should be aware of. Though it’s hard to formulate a discernable strategy from short sale filings, hedgie and insider sentiment provide lots of market beating opportunities if you know where to look.