Is Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL) a good investment?
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of metrics shareholders can use to monitor the equity markets. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can beat the market by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Equally as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the marketplace. Obviously, there are plenty of stimuli for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
What’s more, let’s examine the recent info about Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL).
What have hedge funds been doing with Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL)?
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -23% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.
According to our 13F database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the biggest position in Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL), worth close to $125.5 million, comprising 0.4% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Hawkeye Capital, managed by Richard Rubin, which held a $45.3 million position; the fund has 14.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, David Keidan’s Buckingham Capital Management and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management.
Because Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL) has faced dropping sentiment from the smart money’s best and brightest, it’s safe to say that there were a few money managers that slashed their full holdings at the end of the second quarter. Intriguingly, Craig C. Albert’s Sheffield Asset Management sold off the largest stake of the 450+ funds we watch, comprising close to $3.2 million in stock, and D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $1.4 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds at the end of the second quarter.
Insider trading activity in Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL)
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL). These stocks are Francesca’s Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FRAN), EZCORP Inc (NASDAQ:EZPW), Office Depot Inc (NYSE:ODP), OfficeMax Inc (NYSE:OMX), and Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS). All of these stocks are in the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps are closest to FINL’s market cap.
