Hedge Funds Are Dumping GNC Holdings Inc (GNC)

At the moment, there are tons of methods market participants can use to track publicly traded companies. Two of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as crucial, positive insider trading activity is another way to look at the marketplace. There are many reasons for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if you know what to do (learn more here).

Thus, we’re going to analyze the newest info for GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC).

Hedge fund activity in GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC)

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 32 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -14% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, TPG-AXON Management LP, managed by Dinakar Singh, holds the largest position in GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC). TPG-AXON Management LP has a $145.7 million position in the stock, comprising 10.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, with a $112.9 million position; 0.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management.

Judging by the fact that GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC) has witnessed a fall in interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there lies a certain “tier” of funds who sold off their full holdings heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin’s Senator Investment Group cut the largest stake of the 450+ funds we watch, totaling close to $80.5 million in stock. Glenn Russell Dubin’s fund, Highbridge Capital Management, also sold off its stock, about $31.4 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 5 funds heading into Q2.

What have insiders been doing with GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC). These stocks are CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE:CVS), Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG), PharMerica Corporation (NYSE:PMC), BioScrip Inc. (NASDAQ:BIOS), and Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD). This group of stocks are the members of the drug stores industry and their market caps match GNC’s market cap.