Helen of Troy Limited (HELE): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) shareholders have witnessed an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late.

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to watch their holdings. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of stimuli for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action encompassing Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE).

How are hedge funds trading Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 43% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Dreman Value Management, managed by David Dreman, holds the most valuable position in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE). Dreman Value Management has a $22.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Cardinal Capital, managed by Amy Minella, which held a $10.6 million position; the fund has 0.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Consequently, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, assembled the most valuable position in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE). AQR Capital Management had 8.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also made a $2.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

Insider trading activity in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)

Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s tactics, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) applies perfectly to this mantra.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds