Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) shareholders have witnessed an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.
In the financial world, there are tons of gauges shareholders can use to analyze the equity markets. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Just as important, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Now, let’s take a peek at the latest action surrounding Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ).
What have hedge funds been doing with Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 13% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Tiger Consumer Management, managed by Patrick McCormack, holds the most valuable position in Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ). Tiger Consumer Management has a $24.6 million position in the stock, comprising 1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $16 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Sigma Capital Management, managed by SAC Subsidiary, initiated the most outsized position in Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ). Sigma Capital Management had 1.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new ZUMZ position is Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital.
Insider trading activity in Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ). These stocks are Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:AM), United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD), Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ:TITN), and Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS). This group of stocks are in the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps resemble ZUMZ’s market cap.
