Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN) was in 17 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. WBSN investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with WBSN positions at the end of the previous quarter.
To the average investor, there are plenty of indicators investors can use to track stocks. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can trounce the market by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are a variety of reasons for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).
Now, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action encompassing Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN).
How have hedgies been trading Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 6% from the previous quarter.
As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Shannon River Fund Management, managed by Spencer M. Waxman, assembled the most valuable position in Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN). Shannon River Fund Management had 16.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Christopher Zepf and Brian Thonn’s Kingdom Ridge Capital also made a $5.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new WBSN positions are Christopher Zepf and Brian Thonn’s Kingdom Ridge Capital and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
How have insiders been trading Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN). These stocks are COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR), EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENOC), Performant Financial Corp (NASDAQ:PFMT), Envestnet Inc (NYSE:ENV), and Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI). This group of stocks are the members of the business services industry and their market caps are closest to WBSN’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) | 10 | 0 | 1 |
| EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENOC) | 14 | 0 | 5 |
| Performant Financial Corp (NASDAQ:PFMT) | 4 | 1 | 10 |
| Envestnet Inc (NYSE:ENV) | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
With the results shown by our time-tested strategies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN) is an important part of this process.
