Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (PEI)

Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. PEI has seen an increase in hedge fund interest recently. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with PEI holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In today’s marketplace, there are plenty of gauges shareholders can use to monitor their holdings. A pair of the most innovative 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 top hedge fund managers can outperform the market by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of stimuli for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a look at the recent action surrounding Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI).

How have hedgies been trading Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 22% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management had the largest position in Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI), worth close to $25.4 million, comprising 0.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $13 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Robert Jaffe’s Force Capital, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

Now, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, established the most outsized position in Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI). Millennium Management had 1.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

How have insiders been trading Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI)?

Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI). These stocks are Retail Opportunity Investments Corp (NASDAQ:ROIC), Saul Centers Inc (NYSE:BFS), Inland Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:IRC), Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust (NYSE:RPT), and Hersha Hospitality Trust (NYSE:HT). This group of stocks are the members of the reit – retail industry and their market caps are closest to PEI’s market cap.