Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI) investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late.
In the financial world, there are a multitude of indicators shareholders can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a superb amount (see just how much).
Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Obviously, there are many motivations for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if you understand what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action encompassing Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI).
What have hedge funds been doing with Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 80% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Adage Capital Management, managed by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, holds the most valuable position in Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI). Adage Capital Management has a $148 million position in the stock, comprising 0.5% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $67 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management, Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Now, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Kingdon Capital, managed by Mark Kingdon, initiated the largest position in Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI). Kingdon Capital had 15 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors also made a $8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Robert Bishop’s Impala Asset Management, Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp, and Israel Englander’s Catapult Capital Management.
How have insiders been trading Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results demonstrated by our time-tested strategies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI) is an important part of this process.
Click here to learn more about Insider Monkey’s Hedge Fund Newsletter
Insider Monkey’s small-cap strategy returned 29.2% between September 2012 and February 2013 versus 8.7% for the S&P 500 index. Try it now by clicking the link above.
