Hedge Funds Are Dumping Rubicon Technology, Inc. (RBCN)

Is Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN) a buy right now? The smart money is in a bearish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets decreased by 1 recently.

To the average investor, there are plenty of indicators investors can use to monitor the equity markets. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as important, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a gander at the key action surrounding Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN).

What does the smart money think about Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN)?

At year’s end, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -11% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the largest position in Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN), worth close to $6.7 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Moore Global Investments, managed by Louis Bacon, which held a $0.6 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp and Charles Davidson’s Wexford Capital.

Judging by the fact that Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there is a sect of fund managers that decided to sell off their full holdings at the end of the year. Intriguingly, Michael Hintze’s CQS Cayman LP dropped the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, worth about $0.5 million in stock.. Andy Redleaf’s fund, Whitebox Advisors, also dumped its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds at the end of the year.

How have insiders been trading Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, 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 Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN). These stocks are MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE:MXL), Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UCTT), Actions Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:ACTS), Sigma Designs Inc (NASDAQ:SIGM), and Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ). All of these stocks are in the semiconductor – specialized industry and their market caps are closest to RBCN’s market cap.

With the results shown by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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