Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NAK) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest of late.
In the financial world, there are dozens of metrics investors can use to monitor the equity markets. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can beat their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).
Equally as integral, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of stimuli for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the recent action encompassing Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NAK).
How are hedge funds trading Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NAK)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 14% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Bristol Investment Partners, managed by Trey Reik, holds the most valuable position in Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NAK). Bristol Investment Partners has a $7.2 million position in the stock, comprising 7% of its 13F portfolio. On Bristol Investment Partners’s heels is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $1.7 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Michael Johnston’s Steelhead Partners, Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management and John Zaro’s Bourgeon Capital.
Consequently, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Steelhead Partners, managed by Michael Johnston, assembled the largest position in Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NAK). Steelhead Partners had 1.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management also initiated a $0.5 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new NAK position is Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.
How are insiders trading Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NAK)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NAK) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NAK). These stocks are PolyMet Mining Corp. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:PLM), SilverCrest Mines Inc (NYSEAMEX:SVLC), North American Palladium Ltd (USA) (NYSEAMEX:PAL), Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. (NYSEAMEX:PZG), and Pretium Resources Inc (NYSE:PVG). This group of stocks are the members of the industrial metals & minerals industry and their market caps are similar to NAK’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| PolyMet Mining Corp. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:PLM) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| SilverCrest Mines Inc (NYSEAMEX:SVLC) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| North American Palladium Ltd (USA) (NYSEAMEX:PAL) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. (NYSEAMEX:PZG) | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Pretium Resources Inc (NYSE:PVG) | 9 | 0 | 0 |
With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s research, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NAK) applies perfectly to this mantra.
