Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Home Properties, Inc. (HME) Anymore

Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME) investors should pay attention to a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately.

To the average investor, there are tons of metrics market participants can use to watch stocks. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are a number of incentives for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the latest action surrounding Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME).

How are hedge funds trading Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -38% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.

Of the funds we track, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors had the biggest position in Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME), worth close to $6.5 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Two Sigma Advisors’s heels is Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $3.6 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Seeing as Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME) has experienced declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedge funds that decided to sell off their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies cut the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, worth about $12.7 million in stock., and Louis Bacon of Moore Global Investments was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $3.1 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds last quarter.

Insider trading activity in Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME)

Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 10 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 Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME). These stocks are Post Properties Inc (NYSE:PPS), Hatteras Financial Corp. (NYSE:HTS), BRE Properties Inc (NYSE:BRE), Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA), and Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS). This group of stocks are the members of the reit – residential industry and their market caps resemble HME’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by our studies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME) is no exception.

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