Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About XO Group Inc (XOXO) Anymore

Should XO Group Inc (NYSE:XOXO) investors track the following data?

At the moment, there are plenty of metrics shareholders can use to track stocks. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce the market by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as crucial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the stock market universe. Obviously, there are a variety of reasons for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, we’re going to analyze the recent info surrounding XO Group Inc (NYSE:XOXO).

What have hedge funds been doing with XO Group Inc (NYSE:XOXO)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -23% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Wallace R. Weitz & Co., managed by Wallace Weitz, holds the most valuable position in XO Group Inc (NYSE:XOXO). Wallace R. Weitz & Co. has a $29.3 million position in the stock, comprising 1.2% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Ariel Investments, managed by John W. Rogers, which held a $15 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Brett Hendrickson’s Nokomis Capital, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Due to the fact XO Group Inc (NYSE:XOXO) has witnessed dropping sentiment from the top-tier hedge fund industry, we can see that there exists a select few hedge funds that decided to sell off their full holdings in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Thomas E. Lynch’s Mill Road Capital Management sold off the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, valued at close to $1.1 million in stock. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also dumped its stock, about $0.7 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds in Q1.

How are insiders trading XO Group Inc (NYSE:XOXO)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, XO Group Inc (NYSE:XOXO) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to XO Group Inc (NYSE:XOXO). These stocks are Zagg Inc (NASDAQ:ZAGG), CSS Industries, Inc. (NYSE:CSS), Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX), TravelCenters of America LLC (NYSEAMEX:TA), and West Marine, Inc. (NASDAQ:WMAR). This group of stocks belong to the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps are similar to XOXO’s market cap.