Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) was in 9 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. CALM investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with CALM positions at the end of the previous quarter.
In the financial world, there are many metrics market participants can use to analyze Mr. Market. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Just as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Obviously, there are lots of incentives for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors understand what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a gander at the latest action encompassing Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM).
Hedge fund activity in Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM)
Heading into 2013, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 13% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
Of the funds we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the largest position in Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM), worth close to $89 million, accounting for 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $12 million position; 0% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining peers that are bullish include Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management, Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.
As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Tudor Investment Corp, managed by Paul Tudor Jones, assembled the most valuable position in Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM). Tudor Investment Corp had 0 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital also made a $0 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
What have insiders been doing with Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM). These stocks are Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC), Annies Inc (NYSE:BNNY), Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST), Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFM), and Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOLE). This group of stocks are the members of the food – major diversified industry and their market caps match CALM’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Annies Inc (NYSE:BNNY) | 10 | 1 | 6 |
| Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST) | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFM) | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOLE) | 15 | 0 | 2 |
With the returns exhibited by our studies, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) is no exception.
