United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently.
To most traders, hedge funds are seen as unimportant, outdated investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation today, we look at the leaders of this group, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the majority of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by monitoring their best picks, we have formulated a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (check out a sample of our picks).
Equally as key, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are a number of stimuli for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a gander at the key action encompassing United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI).
Hedge fund activity in United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI)
Heading into Q2, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 67% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
Consequently, some big names have jumped into United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) headfirst. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, created the most outsized position in United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI). Millennium Management had 30.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also made a $2.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new UNFI positions are Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Abby Flamholz and Yehuda Blinder’s ADAR Investment Management.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI). These stocks are AMCON Distributing Co. (NYSEAMEX:DIT), Nash-Finch Company (NASDAQ:NAFC), SYSCO Corporation (NYSE:SYY), Spartan Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPTN), and The Chefs Warehouse, Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF). All of these stocks are in the food wholesale industry and their market caps are similar to UNFI’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| AMCON Distributing Co. (NYSEAMEX:DIT) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Nash-Finch Company (NASDAQ:NAFC) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| SYSCO Corporation (NYSE:SYY) | 20 | 0 | 8 |
| Spartan Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPTN) | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| The Chefs Warehouse, Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF) | 1 | 0 | 2 |
With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
