Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG)? – Universal Forest Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPI), Headwaters Inc (NYSE:HW)

Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late.

To most shareholders, hedge funds are seen as underperforming, outdated financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds trading at the moment, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the top tier of this group, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by keeping an eye on their top picks, we have found a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year 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 outclassed the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (check out a sample of our picks).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. There are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the recent action surrounding Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG).

What have hedge funds been doing with Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 50% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG). Royce & Associates has a $45 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $6 million position; the fund has 0% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, assembled the biggest position in Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG). Driehaus Capital had 3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital also initiated a $1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors, Mike Vranos’s Ellington, and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

Insider trading activity in Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG)

Insider buying is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG). These stocks are AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON), Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF), Universal Forest Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPI), Headwaters Inc (NYSE:HW), and Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX). This group of stocks are in the general building materials industry and their market caps match APOG’s market cap.

With the returns exhibited by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) applies perfectly to this mantra.