Hedge Funds Are Selling Logitech International SA (USA) (LOGI)

Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI) has seen a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately.

In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as underperforming, outdated investment tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation today, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the crème de la crème of this group, around 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees most of the smart money’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their best stock picks, we have deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per 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 topped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).

Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of reasons for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the recent action encompassing Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI).

How have hedgies been trading Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -29% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

Of the funds we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI). Royce & Associates has a $9.5 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is David Gallo of Valinor Management LLC, with a $3 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management, Andrew Immerman and Jeremy Schiffman’s Palestra Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Because Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI) has experienced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few money managers that elected to cut their full holdings in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Crispin Odey’s Odey Asset Management Group said goodbye to the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, valued at an estimated $9.3 million in stock.. Joseph A. Jolson’s fund, Harvest Capital Strategies, also dropped its stock, about $2.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds in Q1.

How are insiders trading Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI) has experienced 1 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 Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI). These stocks are Intermec Inc. (NYSE:IN), Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE), Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:PANL), Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA), and Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII). This group of stocks are in the computer peripherals industry and their market caps match LOGI’s market cap.

With the returns shown by the aforementioned research, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI) applies perfectly to this mantra.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds