Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) was in 21 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. DDS investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently. There were 21 hedge funds in our database with DDS positions at the end of the previous quarter.
Just as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of motivations for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
Now, let’s take a peek at the key action surrounding Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS).
What does the smart money think about Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management had the largest position in Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS), worth close to $67.8 million, accounting for 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $67.3 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
Since Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) has experienced a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Intriguingly, Alex Sacerdote ‘s Whale Rock Capital Management cut the largest stake of the 450+ funds we watch, worth about $18.3 million in stock.. Dmitry Balyasny’s fund, Balyasny Asset Management, also dropped its stock, about $3 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Insider trading activity in Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS). These stocks are Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc (NASDAQ:SHOS), Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS), Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS), Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD), and J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP). All of these stocks are in the department stores industry and their market caps resemble DDS’s market cap.
