In today’s marketplace, there are tons of indicators investors can use to monitor Mr. Market. Some of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).
Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many motivations for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a peek at the latest action surrounding Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc (NYSE:HTSI).
How have hedgies been trading Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc (NYSE:HTSI)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -44% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
Of the funds we track, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the most valuable position in Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc (NYSE:HTSI), worth close to $27.1 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $26.3 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Seeing as Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc (NYSE:HTSI) has experienced a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes heading into 2013. It’s worth mentioning that Israel Englander’s Millennium Management sold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies we track, totaling an estimated $4.2 million in stock.. D. E. Shaw’s fund, D E Shaw, also cut its stock, about $0.6 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds heading into 2013.
How have insiders been trading Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc (NYSE:HTSI)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc (NYSE:HTSI) has seen zero 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 Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc (NYSE:HTSI). These stocks are SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE:SVU), Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS), Weis Markets, Inc. (NYSE:WMK), Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY), and The Fresh Market Inc (NASDAQ:TFM). This group of stocks belong to the grocery stores industry and their market caps are closest to HTSI’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE:SVU) | 21 | 0 | 1 |
| Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS) | 16 | 1 | 5 |
| Weis Markets, Inc. (NYSE:WMK) | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| The Fresh Market Inc (NASDAQ:TFM) | 11 | 1 | 3 |
With the results shown by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc (NYSE:HTSI) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
