Fisher Communications, Inc. (FSCI): Insiders Are Buying, Should You?

Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. FSCI has seen a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with FSCI holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In the eyes of most market participants, hedge funds are seen as underperforming, old investment vehicles of the past. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open today, we choose to focus on the aristocrats of this club, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their best equity investments, we have found a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum 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 24 percentage points in 7 months (see the details here).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. There are many stimuli for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a look at the latest action regarding Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI).

How are hedge funds trading Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, holds the largest position in Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI). GAMCO Investors has a $50.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. On GAMCO Investors’s heels is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $0.9 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Judging by the fact that Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI) has faced a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedgies who were dropping their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Kelly Cardwell’s Central Square Management cut the largest investment of all the hedgies we track, worth an estimated $1.2 million in stock.. D. E. Shaw’s fund, D E Shaw, also cut its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How have insiders been trading Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI) has experienced 3 unique insiders purchasing, 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 Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI). These stocks are Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST), Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:OUTD), Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN), Entravision Communication (NYSE:EVC), and Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ:CETV). This group of stocks belong to the broadcasting – tv industry and their market caps are similar to FSCI’s market cap.

With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s tactics, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI) is an important part of this process.

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