Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Haynes International, Inc. (HAYN)?

Is Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAYN) a buy right now? Prominent investors are becoming less confident. The number of bullish hedge fund positions stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience.

To the average investor, there are plenty of metrics investors can use to track the equity markets. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. There are lots of motivations for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a peek at the key action encompassing Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAYN).

What have hedge funds been doing with Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAYN)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAYN). Royce & Associates has a $43.6 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $6.1 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Since Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAYN) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there exists a select few hedge funds who were dropping their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Louis Navellier’s Navellier & Associates said goodbye to the largest investment of all the hedgies we key on, worth close to $0.5 million in stock. These bearish behaviors 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 Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAYN)

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAYN) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAYN). These stocks are AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ), Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH), A M Castle and Co (NYSE:CAS), Matthews International Corp (NASDAQ:MATW), and Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCHN). This group of stocks are in the metal fabrication industry and their market caps match HAYN’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by our strategies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAYN) applies perfectly to this mantra.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds