Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (OMEX) Anymore

Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. OMEX has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest recently. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with OMEX holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of methods shareholders can use to monitor their holdings. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can trounce the market by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are lots of motivations for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the recent action surrounding Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX).

Hedge fund activity in Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX)

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -25% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners had the most valuable position in Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX), worth close to $4.5 million, comprising 0.7% of its total 13F portfolio. On Manatuck Hill Partners’s heels is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $1.4 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners, Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Since Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX) has experienced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedgies that slashed their positions entirely heading into 2013. At the top of the heap, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital said goodbye to the largest stake of all the hedgies we monitor, worth an estimated $0.2 million in stock.. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s fund, Two Sigma Advisors, also dropped its stock, about $0 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds heading into 2013.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX). These stocks are TravelCenters of America LLC (NYSEAMEX:TA), Zagg Inc (NASDAQ:ZAGG), West Marine, Inc. (NASDAQ:WMAR), XO Group Inc (NYSE:XOXO), and CSS Industries, Inc. (NYSE:CSS). This group of stocks are the members of the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps match OMEX’s market cap.

With the results shown by the aforementioned research, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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