Is Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK) a buy?
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to monitor Mr. Market. A duo of the best 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 money managers can trounce the market by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are many reasons for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).
Thus, let’s analyze the recent info for Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK).
Hedge fund activity in Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK)
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -7% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, Trafelet Capital, managed by Remy Trafelet, holds the most valuable position in Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK). Trafelet Capital has a $14.2 million position in the stock, comprising 9.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $10.7 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Thomas Ellis and Todd Hammer’s North Run Capital, Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
Due to the fact Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK) has witnessed a fall in interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedge funds who were dropping their entire stakes at the end of the second quarter. At the top of the heap, Charles Davidson’s Wexford Capital dumped the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we monitor, worth an estimated $3.8 million in stock. Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider’s fund, SG Capital Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.8 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds at the end of the second quarter.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK)?
Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK). These stocks are bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE), Destination Maternity Corp (NASDAQ:DEST), The Wet Seal, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTSL), New York & Company, Inc. (NYSE:NWY), and Destination XL Group Inc (NASDAQ:DXLG). This group of stocks belong to the apparel stores industry and their market caps resemble CBK’s market cap.
