Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (RUTH)?

Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. RUTH has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest of late. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with RUTH positions at the end of the previous quarter.

In today’s marketplace, there are plenty of metrics shareholders can use to monitor publicly traded companies. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can trounce the broader indices by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. Obviously, there are lots of incentives for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the key action encompassing Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH).

What have hedge funds been doing with Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -8% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, MFP Investors, managed by Michael Price, holds the largest position in Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH). MFP Investors has a $20.9 million position in the stock, comprising 2.7% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Hirzel Capital Management, managed by Zac Hirzel, which held a $3.1 million position; 1.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors.

Because Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH) has experienced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there is a sect of money managers who were dropping their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors dropped the biggest investment of all the hedgies we key on, worth an estimated $0.1 million in stock., and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds at the end of the first quarter.

How have insiders been trading Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH). These stocks are Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (NYSE:RT), Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BAGL), Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group Inc (NASDAQ:DFRG), Ignite Restaurant Group Inc (NASDAQ:IRG), and Bravo Brio Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBRG). This group of stocks are in the restaurants industry and their market caps are closest to RUTH’s market cap.