Anixter International Inc. (NYSE:AXE) investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently.
According to most investors, hedge funds are seen as unimportant, outdated financial tools of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading today, we look at the moguls of this club, about 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls the majority of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by monitoring their best equity investments, we have unsheathed a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year 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 topped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).
Just as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. There are a variety of motivations for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you understand what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the latest action encompassing Anixter International Inc. (NYSE:AXE).
Hedge fund activity in Anixter International Inc. (NYSE:AXE)
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 31% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in Anixter International Inc. (NYSE:AXE). Royce & Associates has a $101.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is John W. Rogers of Ariel Investments, with a $88.3 million position; 1.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management and Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management.
As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Ascend Capital, managed by Malcolm Fairbairn, created the most valuable position in Anixter International Inc. (NYSE:AXE). Ascend Capital had 10.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Anil Stevens and Glenn Shapiro’s Parameter Capital Management also initiated a $2.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AXE positions are SAC Subsidiary’s CR Intrinsic Investors, Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Anixter International Inc. (NYSE:AXE)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, Anixter International Inc. (NYSE:AXE) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results shown by our research, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Anixter International Inc. (NYSE:AXE) is an important part of this process.
