Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Hooker Furniture Corporation (HOFT)?

Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT) investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late.

In the financial world, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to analyze the equity markets. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outpace the broader indices by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the marketplace. There are plenty of stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action surrounding Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT).

What have hedge funds been doing with Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 25% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the most valuable position in Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT), worth close to $1 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Whitebox Advisors, managed by Andy Redleaf, which held a $0.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates.

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds have jumped into Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT) headfirst. Bryn Mawr Capital, managed by Ken Gray and Steve Walsh, established the most valuable position in Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT). Bryn Mawr Capital had 0.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.

How have insiders been trading Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT). These stocks are American Woodmark Corporation (NASDAQ:AMWD), Stanley Furniture Co. (NASDAQ:STLY), Natuzzi, S.p.A (ADR) (NYSE:NTZ), Flexsteel Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLXS), and Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:BSET). This group of stocks belong to the home furnishings & fixtures industry and their market caps resemble HOFT’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s research, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT) is an important part of this process.

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