Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (AMG): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG) has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late.

To the average investor, there are plenty of indicators market participants can use to watch publicly traded companies. 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 best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are many motivations for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a glance at the latest action regarding Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG).

What have hedge funds been doing with Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -6% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

Of the funds we track, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the biggest position in Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG), worth close to $242.1 million, accounting for 0.4% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $152.3 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Amy Minella’s Cardinal Capital.

Judging by the fact that Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedgies that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group sold off the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we track, totaling an estimated $29.9 million in stock., and Louis Bacon of Moore Global Investments was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $1.7 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds last quarter.

How have insiders been trading Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG). These stocks are Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV), Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ), Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG), Oaktree Capital Group LLC (NYSE:OAK), and Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ:CG). This group of stocks are the members of the asset management industry and their market caps are similar to AMG’s market cap.

With the results shown by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG) is an important part of this process.

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