CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ) was in 9 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. CBZ shareholders have witnessed a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with CBZ holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
If you’d ask most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be worthless, outdated financial tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the masters of this group, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group controls the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by watching their highest performing stock picks, we have determined a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten Mr. 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 began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (explore the details and some picks here).
Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a number of stimuli for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the key action surrounding CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ).
How have hedgies been trading CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -18% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.
Of the funds we track, Claus Moller’s P2 Capital Partners had the largest position in CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ), worth close to $14.3 million, comprising 2.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Cardinal Capital, managed by Amy Minella, which held a $14.2 million position; 1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Because CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of fund managers that elected to cut their full holdings heading into 2013. It’s worth mentioning that Mike Vranos’s Ellington dumped the biggest stake of all the hedgies we key on, comprising close to $0.1 million in stock., and Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into 2013.
Insider trading activity in CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ)
Insider buying is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ) has experienced 2 unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ). These stocks are Consolidated Graphics, Inc. (NYSE:CGX), Furiex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:FURX), Carbonite Inc (NASDAQ:CARB), Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:UEPS), and Safeguard Scientifics, Inc (NYSE:SFE). This group of stocks are the members of the business services industry and their market caps resemble CBZ’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Consolidated Graphics, Inc. (NYSE:CGX) | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| Furiex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:FURX) | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Carbonite Inc (NASDAQ:CARB) | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:UEPS) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Safeguard Scientifics, Inc (NYSE:SFE) | 6 | 2 | 0 |
With the results shown by our strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
