Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE) investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months.
To the average investor, there are dozens of gauges investors can use to watch Mr. Market. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can beat the market by a significant amount (see just how much).
Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the latest action encompassing Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE).
What have hedge funds been doing with Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE)?
At year’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -33% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
According to our comprehensive database, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors had the largest position in Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE), worth close to $47 million, comprising 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Otter Creek Management, managed by Roger Keith Long, which held a $11.7 million position; 1.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
Judging by the fact that Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes in Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dumped the biggest position of all the hedgies we watch, comprising about $3.1 million in stock.. D. E. Shaw’s fund, D E Shaw, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.7 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds in Q4.
What have insiders been doing with Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE). These stocks are The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), Gruma S.A.B. de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE:GMK), TreeHouse Foods Inc. (NYSE:THS), J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF), and B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS). This group of stocks belong to the processed & packaged goods industry and their market caps match LNCE’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN) | 20 | 1 | 1 |
| Gruma S.A.B. de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE:GMK) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| TreeHouse Foods Inc. (NYSE:THS) | 11 | 0 | 6 |
| J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) | 10 | 1 | 8 |
| B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS) | 9 | 0 | 4 |
With the returns demonstrated by our studies, everyday investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
