Hedge Funds Are Selling AEP Industries (AEPI)

AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI) has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest recently.

In today’s marketplace, there are plenty of metrics investors can use to watch Mr. Market. A duo of the most underrated 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 elite investment managers can outclass the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are many reasons for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a glance at the key action regarding AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI).

Hedge fund activity in AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI)

Heading into 2013, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -11% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the largest position in AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI). Renaissance Technologies has a $6.1 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Gotham Asset Management, managed by Joel Greenblatt, which held a $0.9 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 Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

Judging by the fact that AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI) has faced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there is a sect of funds that elected to cut their full holdings heading into 2013. It’s worth mentioning that Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies we watch, valued at about $0.2 million in stock. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into 2013.

How have insiders been trading AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI). These stocks are Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG), China XD Plastics Co Ltd (NASDAQ:CXDC), Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG), Spartech Corporation (NYSE:SEH), and Myers Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MYE). This group of stocks are the members of the rubber & plastics industry and their market caps match AEPI’s market cap.