Hedge Funds Are Dumping IXYS Corporation (IXYS)

IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS) has seen a decrease in hedge fund sentiment lately.

According to most market participants, hedge funds are perceived as slow, old financial vehicles of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we look at the moguls of this group, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by monitoring their best investments, we have deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Just as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the marketplace. There are a number of motivations for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a glance at the recent action regarding IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS).

How are hedge funds trading IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -13% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS). Royce & Associates has a $19.7 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is Gotham Asset Management, managed by Joel Greenblatt, which held a $1.1 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining peers that are bullish include John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

Because IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there was a specific group of hedgies that slashed their positions entirely in Q4. Intriguingly, Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors dumped the biggest position of the 450+ funds we track, comprising close to $0.9 million in stock. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds in Q4.

What have insiders been doing with IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS). These stocks are GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:GTAT), Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Ltd (NASDAQ:AOSL), CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA), NVE Corporation (NASDAQ:NVEC), and Trina Solar Limited (ADR) (NYSE:TSL). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – specialized industry and their market caps are closest to IXYS’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS) is an important part of this process.

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