Is it smart to be bullish on Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG)?
To the average investor, there are many gauges market participants can use to analyze stocks. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can beat their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).
Equally as useful, positive insider trading activity is another way to analyze the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors understand where to look (learn more here).
Thus, let’s analyze the recent info surrounding Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG).
What does the smart money think about Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG)?
Heading into Q3, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 36% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, Gates Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Gates, holds the most valuable position in Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG). Gates Capital Management has a $53.3 million position in the stock, comprising 2.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Gates Capital Management’s heels is Wallace R. Weitz & Co., managed by Wallace Weitz, which held a $51.3 million position; the fund has 2.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
Now, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Gates Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Gates, initiated the most outsized position in Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG). Gates Capital Management had 53.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Wallace Weitz’s Wallace R. Weitz & Co. also made a $51.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new IILG positions are Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
How have insiders been trading Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG). These stocks are Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT), VistaPrint Limited (NASDAQ:VPRT), ABM Industries, Inc. (NYSE:ABM), Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY), and Cardtronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CATM). All of these stocks are in the business services industry and their market caps are closest to IILG’s market cap.
