PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) investors should pay attention to a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately.
Equally as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. There are many motivations for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).
Now, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action encompassing PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT).
Hedge fund activity in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)
Heading into Q2, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -13% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management had the biggest call position in PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT), worth close to $2.7 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $0.9 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers that are bullish include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Due to the fact that PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) has faced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there exists a select few hedgies who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q2. Interestingly, Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital dumped the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, comprising an estimated $8.6 million in stock.. Andy Redleaf’s fund, Whitebox Advisors, also dumped its stock, about $0.6 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into Q2.
What have insiders been doing with PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT). These stocks are Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG), Fred’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED), Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR), Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO), and Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE:BIG). All of these stocks are in the discount, variety stores industry and their market caps are similar to PSMT’s market cap.
Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG) | 61 | 2 | 9 |
Fred’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED) | 6 | 0 | 3 |
Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) | 40 | 0 | 2 |
Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO) | 27 | 0 | 3 |
Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE:BIG) | 22 | 0 | 0 |
With the returns exhibited by our tactics, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT) is no exception.