Hedge Funds Are Dumping AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM) – KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR), Stantec Inc. (USA) (NYSE:STN)

Is AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM) a buy here? Prominent investors are reducing their bets on the stock. The number of bullish hedge fund positions were cut by 1 in recent months.

In the financial world, there are dozens of metrics investors can use to track stocks. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can trounce the market by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of stimuli for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the latest action encompassing AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM).

How have hedgies been trading AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -8% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital had the most valuable position in AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM), worth close to $28 million, accounting for 0.4% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $23 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Due to the fact that AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM) has witnessed a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there were a few hedgies who sold off their positions entirely last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management cut the largest stake of the 450+ funds we track, worth about $1 million in stock., and David Costen Haley of HBK Investments was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds last quarter.

How are insiders trading AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 11 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM). These stocks are Stantec Inc. (USA) (NYSE:STN), KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR), SAIC, Inc. (NYSE:SAI), The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE:SHAW), and URS Corp (NYSE:URS). This group of stocks are the members of the technical services industry and their market caps match ACM’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned research, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM) is no exception.