Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) was in 20 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. GMCR shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund interest recently. There were 23 hedge funds in our database with GMCR positions at the end of the previous quarter.
To most traders, hedge funds are seen as slow, old financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds trading today, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the crème de la crème of this group, about 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls most of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by paying attention to their best stock picks, we have deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see all of our picks from August).
Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are a number of motivations for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
Now, we’re going to take a look at the latest action regarding Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR).
Hedge fund activity in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR)
In preparation for this year, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -13% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, holds the biggest position in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR). D E Shaw has a $79.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Tremblant Capital, managed by Brett Barakett, which held a $68.5 million position; the fund has 3.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Robert Pitts’s Steadfast Capital Management, and Edward Goodnow’s Goodnow Investment Group.
Because Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of money managers that elected to cut their positions entirely in Q4. Interestingly, Dinakar Singh’s TPG-AXON Management LP dropped the largest investment of the 450+ funds we track, worth close to $59.9 million in stock.. Patrick McCormack’s fund, Tiger Consumer Management, also sold off its stock, about $48 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds in Q4.
Insider trading activity in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR). These stocks are Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB), Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RAH), Ingredion Inc (NYSE:INGR), The J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM), and McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC). This group of stocks belong to the processed & packaged goods industry and their market caps are closest to GMCR’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) | 13 | 0 | 7 |
| Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RAH) | 31 | 0 | 9 |
| Ingredion Inc (NYSE:INGR) | 16 | 0 | 6 |
| The J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) | 16 | 0 | 8 |
| McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) | 13 | 0 | 4 |
With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s research, everyday investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
See Green Mountain’s 7 biggest bulls on the next few pages:
