In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are assumed to be unimportant, old financial tools of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation today, we look at the crème de la crème of this group, around 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group oversees most of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by paying attention to their top picks, we have unearthed a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (check out a sample of our picks).
Just as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the latest action regarding Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN).
How have hedgies been trading Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 33% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the most valuable position in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN), worth close to $11 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $8.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, initiated the most outsized position in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN). Millennium Management had 1.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital also made a $0.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
How have insiders been trading Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)?
Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero 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 Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN). These stocks are Dixie Group Inc (NASDAQ:DXYN), Mohawk Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MHK), Culp, Inc. (NYSE:CFI), and Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI). This group of stocks belong to the textile industrial industry and their market caps resemble AIN’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Dixie Group Inc (NASDAQ:DXYN) | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Mohawk Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MHK) | 33 | 0 | 11 |
| Culp, Inc. (NYSE:CFI) | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI) | 5 | 1 | 3 |
With the returns exhibited by the aforementioned tactics, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) is no exception.
