Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (AXL) Anymore

Should American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) investors track the following data?

At the moment, there are plenty of metrics market participants can use to analyze their holdings. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can beat the broader indices by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as necessary, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to look at the stock market universe. There are plenty of incentives for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

What’s more, we’re going to examine the newest info surrounding American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL).

What have hedge funds been doing with American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -4% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, GMT Capital, managed by Thomas E. Claugus, holds the largest position in American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL). GMT Capital has a $101 million position in the stock, comprising 2.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by JANA Partners, managed by Barry Rosenstein, which held a $65.4 million position; 0.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Robert Boucai’s Newbrook Capital Advisors, Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors and David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management.

Since American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) has faced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few fund managers that slashed their entire stakes in Q1. Interestingly, Daniel Lascano’s Lomas Capital Management dumped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, totaling close to $13 million in stock. Sanford J. Colen’s fund, Apex Capital, also dropped its stock, about $9.6 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds in Q1.

Insider trading activity in American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL)

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL). These stocks are Federal-Mogul Corporation (NASDAQ:FDML), Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP), Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT), Dorman Products Inc. (NASDAQ:DORM), and Monro Muffler Brake Inc (NASDAQ:MNRO). This group of stocks belong to the auto parts industry and their market caps are closest to AXL’s market cap.

Using the results shown by the previously mentioned strategies, average investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and American Axle & Manufact. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) is an important part of this process.

Discover how hedge fund piggybacking can benefit you