Buy Thermon Group Holdings Inc (THR)?

Thermon Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:THR) was in 10 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. THR shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund interest recently. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with THR positions at the end of the previous quarter.

If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are assumed to be unimportant, old investment vehicles of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at the moment, we at Insider Monkey look at the crème de la crème of this club, around 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by monitoring their top investments, we have formulated a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually 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 outpaced the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the world of equities. There are many motivations for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action regarding Thermon Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:THR).

How have hedgies been trading Thermon Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:THR)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 43% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Sandler Capital Management, managed by Andrew Sandler, holds the most valuable position in Thermon Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:THR). Sandler Capital Management has a $8.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. On Sandler Capital Management’s heels is PEAK6 Capital Management, managed by Matthew Hulsizer, which held a $2.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

Now, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. PEAK6 Capital Management, managed by Matthew Hulsizer, established the biggest position in Thermon Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:THR). PEAK6 Capital Management had 2.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also made a $1.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new THR investors: Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Israel Englander’s Catapult Capital Management, and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Insider trading activity in Thermon Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:THR)

Bullish insider trading is most useful when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, Thermon Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:THR) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results exhibited by our studies, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Thermon Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:THR) is an important part of this process.

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