Hedge Funds Are Dumping Thor Industries, Inc. (THO)

Is Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO) worth your attention right now? The best stock pickers are reducing their bets on the stock. The number of bullish hedge fund positions decreased by 3 in recent months.

In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, old financial tools of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds trading at the moment, we at Insider Monkey look at the leaders of this club, close to 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls the majority of the smart money’s total asset base, and by tracking their highest performing investments, we have unearthed a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat 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 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).

Just as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are a number of reasons for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a look at the key action encompassing Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO).

What does the smart money think about Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -18% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO). Royce & Associates has a $265.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.8% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which held a $9.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management, Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management and Matthew Lindenbaum’s Basswood Capital.

Since Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO) has experienced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there was a specific group of hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management dumped the largest position of the 450+ funds we key on, comprising close to $12.1 million in stock., and Drew Cupps of Cupps Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $4.4 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds in Q1.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO) has seen 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO). These stocks are Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS), Arctic Cat Inc (NASDAQ:ACAT), Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WGO), Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII), and Drew Industries, Inc. (NYSE:DW). This group of stocks are the members of the recreational vehicles industry and their market caps are closest to THO’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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