In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of indicators market participants can use to analyze stocks. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can beat the S&P 500 by a superb margin (see just how much).
Just as crucial, positive insider trading activity is another way to analyze the stock market universe. Obviously, there are a variety of motivations for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
Thus, let’s analyze the recent info about Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT).
How have hedgies been trading Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT)?
Heading into Q3, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 20% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
According to our 13F database, Cardinal Capital, managed by Amy Minella, holds the biggest position in Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT). Cardinal Capital has a $15.8 million position in the stock, comprising 1% of its 13F portfolio. On Cardinal Capital’s heels is Ric Dillon of Diamond Hill Capital, with a $11.3 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Douglas T. Granat’s Trigran Investments, Leighton Welch’s Welch Capital Partners and Gilchrist Berg’s Water Street Capital.
As one would understandably expect, certain money managers were breaking ground themselves. Cardinal Capital, managed by Amy Minella, created the biggest position in Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT). Cardinal Capital had 15.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital also made a $11.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new LQDT investors: Douglas T. Granat’s Trigran Investments, Leighton Welch’s Welch Capital Partners, and Gilchrist Berg’s Water Street Capital.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT)?
Insider buying made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT). These stocks are Vitacost.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITC), Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK), E Commerce China Dangdang Inc (ADR) (NYSE:DANG), Stamps.com Inc. (NASDAQ:STMP), and PC Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCCC). This group of stocks belong to the catalog & mail order houses industry and their market caps match LQDT’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Vitacost.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITC) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| E Commerce China Dangdang Inc (ADR) (NYSE:DANG) | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Stamps.com Inc. (NASDAQ:STMP) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| PC Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCCC) | 7 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results shown by Insider Monkey’s analyses, average investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT) applies perfectly to this mantra.
