Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. CRESY has seen an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late. There were 5 hedge funds in our database with CRESY positions at the end of the previous quarter.
To the average investor, there are a multitude of gauges investors can use to analyze their holdings. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can trounce the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Just as integral, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. There are plenty of stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
Now, let’s take a look at the recent action surrounding Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY).
What have hedge funds been doing with Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 20% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw had the most valuable position in Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY), worth close to $11.3 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Jeffrey Vinik of Vinik Asset Management, with a $6.5 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management.
Consequently, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, established the biggest position in Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY). Millennium Management had 0.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.
Insider trading activity in Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY). These stocks are Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO), Limoneira Company (NASDAQ:LMNR), Alico, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALCO), Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (NYSE:CQB), and Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW). This group of stocks belong to the farm products industry and their market caps are closest to CRESY’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Limoneira Company (NASDAQ:LMNR) | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Alico, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALCO) | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (NYSE:CQB) | 17 | 1 | 4 |
| Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) | 5 | 0 | 3 |
With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY) is an important part of this process.
