Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (USA) (NYSE:HWD) investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of methods investors can use to watch their holdings. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. There are plenty of motivations for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action regarding Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (USA) (NYSE:HWD).
Hedge fund activity in Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (USA) (NYSE:HWD)
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -71% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Marcato Capital Management, managed by Richard McGuire, holds the biggest position in Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (USA) (NYSE:HWD). Marcato Capital Management has a $21.1 million position in the stock, comprising 2.9% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Michael Doheny of Freshford Capital Management, with a $16.6 million position; 2.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Since Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (USA) (NYSE:HWD) has faced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there is a sect of hedge funds that elected to cut their full holdings in Q1. Interestingly, Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group said goodbye to the largest position of the 450+ funds we watch, valued at about $26.5 million in stock.. Michael Karsch’s fund, Karsch Capital Management, also sold off its stock, about $18.7 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 15 funds in Q1.
Insider trading activity in Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (USA) (NYSE:HWD)
Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (USA) (NYSE:HWD) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (USA) (NYSE:HWD). These stocks are Hallador Energy Co (NASDAQ:HNRG), Alexco Resource Corp. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:AXU), Rhino Resource Partners, L.P. (NYSE:RNO), Mountain Province Diamonds, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:MDM), and Alliance Holdings GP, L.P. (NASDAQ:AHGP). All of these stocks are in the nonmetallic mineral mining industry and their market caps match HWD’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Hallador Energy Co (NASDAQ:HNRG) | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Alexco Resource Corp. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:AXU) | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Rhino Resource Partners, L.P. (NYSE:RNO) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mountain Province Diamonds, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:MDM) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Alliance Holdings GP, L.P. (NASDAQ:AHGP) | 3 | 0 | 4 |
With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (USA) (NYSE:HWD) applies perfectly to this mantra.
