Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE) was in 7 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. BOBE investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund interest lately. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with BOBE holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
At the moment, there are many gauges market participants can use to monitor the equity markets. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can trounce the market by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a number of incentives for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the key action surrounding Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE).
How are hedge funds trading Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -22% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE). Royce & Associates has a $17.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is Ariel Investments, managed by John W. Rogers, which held a $8.8 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.
Since Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE) has witnessed a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds who were dropping their positions entirely in Q4. Interestingly, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management sold off the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, worth close to $3.2 million in stock.. Andy Redleaf’s fund, Whitebox Advisors, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.7 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds in Q4.
Insider trading activity in Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE)
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE) has experienced 2 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 Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE). These stocks are Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK), Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE:KKD), Texas Roadhouse Inc (NASDAQ:TXRH), Papa John’s Int’l, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA), and DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN). This group of stocks are in the restaurants industry and their market caps resemble BOBE’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK) | 15 | 1 | 9 |
| Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE:KKD) | 19 | 0 | 2 |
| Texas Roadhouse Inc (NASDAQ:TXRH) | 14 | 1 | 5 |
| Papa John’s Int’l, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) | 11 | 1 | 5 |
| DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN) | 19 | 0 | 5 |
With the returns exhibited by our tactics, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
