Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH) was in 13 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. MRH has seen an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with MRH positions at the end of the previous quarter.
At the moment, there are plenty of gauges shareholders can use to analyze publicly traded companies. Two of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outpace the broader indices by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a look at the recent action regarding Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH).
What have hedge funds been doing with Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 44% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
As one would reasonably expect, key money managers have jumped into Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH) headfirst. AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, assembled the largest position in Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH). AQR Capital Management had 14.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $1.5 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new MRH investors: D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.
How have insiders been trading Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH) has seen 3 unique insiders purchasing, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH). These stocks are Platinum Underwriters Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE:PTP), Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH), Radian Group Inc (NYSE:RDN), Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI), and RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI). This group of stocks belong to the property & casualty insurance industry and their market caps resemble MRH’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Platinum Underwriters Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE:PTP) | 14 | 1 | 6 |
| Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) | 17 | 3 | 0 |
| Radian Group Inc (NYSE:RDN) | 35 | 1 | 0 |
| Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) | 5 | 0 | 1 |
With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:MRH) is an important part of this process.
