Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (MATX): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It But Hedge Funds Love It

Is it smart to be bullish on Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX)?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of indicators market participants can use to monitor their holdings. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can beat the broader indices by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as useful, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to look at the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s discuss the recent info for Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX).

How are hedge funds trading Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 33% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the biggest position in Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX), worth close to $14.9 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $6.2 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Consequently, certain money managers were breaking ground themselves. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, created the biggest position in Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX). Royce & Associates had 14.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $6.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MATX positions are Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

How are insiders trading Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX). These stocks are DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS), Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE:NMM), Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX), Costamare Inc (NYSE:CMRE), and Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG). This group of stocks are the members of the shipping industry and their market caps match MATX’s market cap.

Using the returns demonstrated by our tactics, regular investors should always track hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX) is no exception.

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