Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (EFII): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII) was in 14 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. EFII shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with EFII positions at the end of the previous quarter.

In the financial world, there are tons of methods shareholders can use to track Mr. Market. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are many reasons for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action regarding Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII).

How have hedgies been trading Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 8% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Third Avenue Management, managed by Martin Whitman, holds the most valuable position in Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII). Third Avenue Management has a $51.4 million position in the stock, comprising 1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Eric Bannasch of Cadian Capital, with a $26.2 million position; 0.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Mark N. Diker’s Diker Management, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Two Sigma Advisors, managed by John Overdeck and David Siegel, created the largest position in Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII). Two Sigma Advisors had 1.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors also made a $0.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new EFII investors: Mike Vranos’s Ellington, Guru Ramakrishnan’s Meru Capital, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII). These stocks are Intermec Inc. (NYSE:IN), Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE), Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:PANL), Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA), and Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI). This group of stocks are the members of the computer peripherals industry and their market caps are similar to EFII’s market cap.

With the returns shown by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII) is no exception.

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