If you’d ask most investors, hedge funds are seen as worthless, old investment vehicles of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey look at the upper echelon of this group, around 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by paying attention to their highest performing equity investments, we have figured out a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually 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 outperformed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).
Just as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the key action encompassing AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE:AHS).
What have hedge funds been doing with AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE:AHS)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -6% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.
Of the funds we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the biggest position in AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE:AHS). Renaissance Technologies has a $9 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Robert B. Gillam of McKinley Capital Management, with a $4.3 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
Seeing as AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE:AHS) has faced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few hedge funds who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, James Pallotta’s Raptor Capital Management sold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies we monitor, totaling about $1.4 million in stock., and D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.3 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into Q2.
What have insiders been doing with AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE:AHS)?
Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE:AHS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE:AHS). These stocks are DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX), Korn/Ferry International (NYSE:KFY), Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI), Compass Diversified Holdings (NYSE:CODI), and Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:KELYA). This group of stocks are in the staffing & outsourcing services industry and their market caps resemble AHS’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX) | 9 | 0 | 3 |
| Korn/Ferry International (NYSE:KFY) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Compass Diversified Holdings (NYSE:CODI) | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:KELYA) | 12 | 0 | 1 |
With the results shown by our studies, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE:AHS) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
