Hedge Funds Are Betting On Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (HPY)

Is Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY) an attractive investment today? Prominent investors are in a bullish mood. The number of long hedge fund bets advanced by 7 lately.

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Consequently, it’s important to take a gander at the recent action encompassing Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY).

Hedge fund activity in Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY)

At Q1’s end, a total of 19 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 58% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management had the biggest position in Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY), worth close to $24.1 million, comprising 0.5% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $17.6 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, established the most valuable position in Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY). Renaissance Technologies had 3.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management also made a $3.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new HPY positions are Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, and Spencer M. Waxman’s Shannon River Fund Management.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY). These stocks are VistaPrint Limited (NASDAQ:VPRT), Atlas Resource Partners, L.P. (NYSE:ARP), Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG), Cardtronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CATM), and ABM Industries, Inc. (NYSE:ABM). This group of stocks are the members of the business services industry and their market caps resemble HPY’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s tactics, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY) is no exception.

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