Bally Technologies Inc. (BYI): Insiders Are Buying, Should You?

Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BYI) investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of metrics investors can use to track Mr. Market. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can beat the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as key, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a number of incentives for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action encompassing Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BYI).

Hedge fund activity in Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BYI)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -32% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.

Of the funds we track, Michael A. Price and Amos Meron’s Empyrean Capital Partners had the biggest position in Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BYI), worth close to $96.8 million, accounting for 2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Claus Moller of P2 Capital Partners, with a $61.4 million position; 10.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers with similar optimism include Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Management, Gregory A. Weaver’s Invicta Capital Management and John Murphy’s Alydar Capital.

Because Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BYI) has faced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there were a few money managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, David Keidan’s Buckingham Capital Management cut the largest stake of the 450+ funds we key on, worth an estimated $12.9 million in stock., and Israel Englander of Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $10.9 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 7 funds last quarter.

What have insiders been doing with Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BYI)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BYI) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BYI). These stocks are Multimedia Games Holding Company Inc (NASDAQ:MGAM), Scientific Games Corp (NASDAQ:SGMS), Churchill Downs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHDN), and WMS Industries Inc. (NYSE:WMS). This group of stocks belong to the gaming activities industry and their market caps match BYI’s market cap.