Hedge Funds Are Buying Standex Int’l Corp. (SXI)

Is Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) worth your attention right now? Prominent investors are taking a bullish view. The number of long hedge fund bets moved up by 2 in recent months.

To most stock holders, hedge funds are perceived as underperforming, outdated investment vehicles of the past. While there are over 8000 funds trading at the moment, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the upper echelon of this group, around 450 funds. It is estimated that this group has its hands on most of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by watching their highest performing picks, we have determined a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see all of our picks from August).

Just as important, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are lots of reasons for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the recent action encompassing Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI).

What have hedge funds been doing with Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 33% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the largest position in Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI), worth close to $52.9 million, accounting for 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Mario Gabelli of GAMCO Investors, with a $7.6 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have jumped into Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) headfirst. Two Sigma Advisors, managed by John Overdeck and David Siegel, assembled the most valuable position in Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI). Two Sigma Advisors had 0.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors also initiated a $0.2 million position during the quarter.

How are insiders trading Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI). These stocks are EnPro Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NPO), Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA), Sun Hydraulics Corporation (NASDAQ:SNHY), CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE:CIR), and H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES). This group of stocks are in the industrial equipment & components industry and their market caps match SXI’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned research, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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