American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (AXL): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) has experienced an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.

In the financial world, there are a multitude of indicators investors can use to monitor the equity markets. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many reasons for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the latest action regarding American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL).

How have hedgies been trading American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 23 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 44% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

Of the funds we track, Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital had the most valuable position in American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL), worth close to $91.7 million, accounting for 2.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by JANA Partners, managed by Barry Rosenstein, which held a $43.1 million position; 0.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management, Robert Boucai’s Newbrook Capital Advisors and Daniel Lascano’s Lomas Capital Management.

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. JANA Partners, managed by Barry Rosenstein, created the most outsized position in American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL). JANA Partners had 43.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert Boucai’s Newbrook Capital Advisors also made a $26.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AXL positions are Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital, Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital, and Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management.

How are insiders trading American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time frame, American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL). These stocks are Federal-Mogul Corporation (NASDAQ:FDML), Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP), Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT), Dorman Products Inc. (NASDAQ:DORM), and Monro Muffler Brake Inc (NASDAQ:MNRO). This group of stocks are in the auto parts industry and their market caps resemble AXL’s market cap.