In the eyes of most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be worthless, old financial tools of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at present, we look at the top tier of this group, around 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing equity investments, we have uncovered a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. 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 topped the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see the details here).
Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of stimuli for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you understand what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the recent action surrounding Calamos Asset Management, Inc (NASDAQ:CLMS).
How are hedge funds trading Calamos Asset Management, Inc (NASDAQ:CLMS)?
At year’s end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Harvest Capital Strategies, managed by Joseph A. Jolson, holds the largest position in Calamos Asset Management, Inc (NASDAQ:CLMS). Harvest Capital Strategies has a $3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.5% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Tom Gayner of Markel Gayner Asset Management, with a $2.4 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.
Insider trading activity in Calamos Asset Management, Inc (NASDAQ:CLMS)
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Calamos Asset Management, Inc (NASDAQ:CLMS) has experienced 5 unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Calamos Asset Management, Inc (NASDAQ:CLMS). These stocks are Solar Senior Capital Ltd (NASDAQ:SUNS), Fidus Investment Corp (NASDAQ:FDUS), Manning and Napier Inc (NYSE:MN), FBR & Co (NASDAQ:FBRC), and Diamond Hill Investment Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DHIL). This group of stocks are the members of the asset management industry and their market caps are closest to CLMS’s market cap.
