Is Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEAMEX:VGZ) a good investment?
To many of your peers, hedge funds are assumed to be overrated, old financial vehicles of a period lost to current times. Although there are over 8,000 hedge funds with their doors open currently, Insider Monkey looks at the elite of this group, close to 525 funds. It is widely held that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by monitoring their best stock picks, we’ve spotted a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).
Just as necessary, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
What’s more, it’s important to examine the newest info surrounding Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEAMEX:VGZ).
How have hedgies been trading Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEAMEX:VGZ)?
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 25% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Sun Valley Gold, managed by Peter Franklin Palmedo, holds the largest position in Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEAMEX:VGZ). Sun Valley Gold has a $11.7 million position in the stock, comprising 1.6% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Sprott Asset Management, managed by Eric Sprott, which held a $5.8 million position; the fund has 0.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners.
As industrywide interest increased, certain bigger names have jumped into Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEAMEX:VGZ) headfirst. Sun Valley Gold, managed by Peter Franklin Palmedo, established the most valuable position in Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEAMEX:VGZ). Sun Valley Gold had 11.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Eric Sprott’s Sprott Asset Management also made a $5.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new VGZ investors: Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners.
How have insiders been trading Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEAMEX:VGZ)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEAMEX:VGZ) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Vista Gold Corp. (NYSEAMEX:VGZ). These stocks are Comstock Mining, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:LODE), Lake Shore Gold Corp Ordinary Shares (Canada) (NYSEAMEX:LSG), International Tower Hill Mines Ltd(USA] (NYSEAMEX:THM), Midway Gold Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:MDW), and Brigus Gold Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:BRD). All of these stocks are in the gold industry and their market caps are similar to VGZ’s market cap.
