Cowen Group, Inc. (COWN): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It But Hedge Funds Love It

Is it smart to be bullish on Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN)?

In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of gauges investors can use to track the equity markets. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Equally as useful, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the financial markets. There are lots of reasons for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).

Thus, it’s important to study the recent info about Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN).

How have hedgies been trading Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 8% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.

According to our 13F database, John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments had the most valuable position in Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN), worth close to $16.7 million, comprising 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Fine Capital Partners, managed by Debra Fine, which held a $13.2 million position; 1.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg’s Leucadia National and Kelly Cardwell’s Central Square Management.

As aggregate interest spiked, certain money managers were breaking ground themselves. Ariel Investments, managed by John W. Rogers, created the largest position in Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN). Ariel Investments had 16.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Debra Fine’s Fine Capital Partners also initiated a $13.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg’s Leucadia National, and Kelly Cardwell’s Central Square Management.

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

Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators 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), GFI Group Inc. (NYSE:GFIG), and Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services (NYSEAMEX:LTS). All of these stocks are in the investment brokerage – national industry and their market caps match COWN’s market cap.

Using the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s strategies, average investors should always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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