Cowen Group, Inc. (COWN): Hedge Funds Are Bearish and Insiders Are Bullish, What Should You Do?

Is Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) a bargain? Prominent investors are becoming less confident. The number of bullish hedge fund positions fell by 2 lately.

To the average investor, there are dozens of gauges investors can use to track Mr. Market. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as important, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. There are plenty of stimuli for a bullish insider to downsize 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 market-beating potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, let’s take a peek at the latest action surrounding Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN).

What does the smart money think about Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -13% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the biggest position in Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN), worth close to $11.6 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is John W. Rogers of Ariel Investments, with a $9.4 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers with similar optimism include Debra Fine’s Fine Capital Partners, Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg’s Leucadia National and Kelly Cardwell’s Central Square Management.

Seeing as Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) has faced a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few hedge funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely heading into Q2. Intriguingly, Gifford Combs’s Dalton Investments cut the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, worth an estimated $0.2 million in stock.. Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk’s fund, GRT Capital Partners, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.1 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into Q2.

How are insiders trading Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) has seen 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN). These stocks are Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE:PJC), FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM), Medley Capital Corp (NYSE:MCC), and GFI Group Inc. (NYSE:GFIG). This group of stocks are in the investment brokerage – national industry and their market caps are similar to COWN’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) applies perfectly to this mantra.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds