Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do? – Almost Family, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFAM), LHC Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LHCG)

Is Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED) the right pick for your portfolio? Prominent investors are in a bullish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets moved up by 2 recently.

To most stock holders, hedge funds are seen as slow, old investment vehicles of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation at the moment, we at Insider Monkey look at the crème de la crème of this group, close to 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by paying attention to their best picks, we have unearthed a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see the details here).

Just as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. There are plenty of incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a gander at the key action regarding Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED).

How are hedge funds trading Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 17% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the most valuable position in Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED). AQR Capital Management has a $7 million position in the stock, comprising 0% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Sean Cullinan of Point State Capital, with a $2 million position; the fund has 0% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Mike Vranos’s Ellington.

Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Point State Capital, managed by Sean Cullinan, established the biggest position in Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED). Point State Capital had 2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Mike Vranos’s Ellington also made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AMED positions are Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital, and Charles Davidson’s Wexford Capital.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED). These stocks are Chemed Corporation (NYSE:CHE), Addus Homecare Corporation (NASDAQ:ADUS), Almost Family, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFAM), LHC Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:LHCG), and Gentiva Health Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTIV). This group of stocks are the members of the home health care industry and their market caps are closest to AMED’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by the aforementioned tactics, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Amedisys Inc (NASDAQ:AMED) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds