In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as worthless, old financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at the moment, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the elite of this group, close to 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group oversees the majority of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by tracking their top picks, we have revealed a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed 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 outclassed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (check out a sample of our picks).
Equally as integral, positive insider trading activity is another way to break down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a number of incentives for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if you understand where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a look at the recent action surrounding Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO).
How are hedge funds trading Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 40% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
When looking at the hedgies we track, George Soros’s Soros Fund Management had the largest position in Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO), worth close to $199.3 million, comprising 2.3% of its total 13F portfolio. On Soros Fund Management’s heels is Ospraie Management, managed by Dwight Anderson, which held a $84.2 million position; 72.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.
Now, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, assembled the largest position in Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO). Renaissance Technologies had 1.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also made a $0.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new AGRO position is Mike Vranos’s Ellington.
How are insiders trading Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO). These stocks are Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (NYSE:CQB), Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW), Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY), Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP), and The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE). This group of stocks are in the farm products industry and their market caps are closest to AGRO’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (NYSE:CQB) | 13 | 1 | 4 |
| Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| Cresud S.A.C.I.F. y A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRESY) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP) | 4 | 1 | 10 |
| The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANDE) | 11 | 0 | 4 |
With the returns exhibited by our strategies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO) applies perfectly to this mantra.
