Biomed Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:BMR) was in 9 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. BMR investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund interest of late. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with BMR holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
To most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, old investment vehicles of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the bigwigs of this club, around 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tracking their top investments, we have spotted a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced 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 topped the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (check out a sample of our picks).
Just as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are plenty of reasons for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the recent action encompassing Biomed Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:BMR).
What have hedge funds been doing with Biomed Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:BMR)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
Of the funds we track, Jeffrey Furber’s AEW Capital Management had the largest position in Biomed Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:BMR), worth close to $50.9 million, accounting for 1.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, which held a $44.1 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management, James E. Flynn’s Deerfield Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Judging by the fact that Biomed Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:BMR) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there were a few money managers who sold off their entire stakes heading into 2013. Interestingly, Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners said goodbye to the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we track, comprising about $0.7 million in stock. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading Biomed Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:BMR)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Biomed Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:BMR) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, 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 Biomed Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:BMR). These stocks are Sovran Self Storage Inc (NYSE:SSS), DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT), CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE), Duke Realty Corp (NYSE:DRE), and Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR). This group of stocks are in the reit – industrial industry and their market caps match BMR’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Sovran Self Storage Inc (NYSE:SSS) | 10 | 0 | 4 |
| DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT) | 7 | 0 | 2 |
| CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Duke Realty Corp (NYSE:DRE) | 8 | 0 | 3 |
| Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR) | 13 | 0 | 1 |
With the returns demonstrated by our studies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Biomed Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:BMR) is an important part of this process.
