Here is What Hedge Funds Think About American Campus Communities, Inc. (ACC)

American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC) was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. ACC investors should pay attention to a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with ACC holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In the eyes of most traders, hedge funds are seen as unimportant, outdated investment tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at present, we choose to focus on the bigwigs of this group, around 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group oversees the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their top stock picks, we have spotted a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see all of our picks from August).

Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are many motivations for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action surrounding American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC).

What does the smart money think about American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -8% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

Of the funds we track, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the largest position in American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC). Citadel Investment Group has a $46.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is AEW Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Furber, which held a $38.3 million position; the fund has 1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Judging by the fact that American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC) has faced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers that slashed their full holdings heading into 2013. It’s worth mentioning that Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management dropped the biggest position of the 450+ funds we key on, comprising about $18.7 million in stock.. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s fund, Two Sigma Advisors, also cut its stock, about $1.7 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds heading into 2013.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC). These stocks are Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT), Essex Property Trust Inc (NYSE:ESS), Apartment Investment and Management Co. (NYSE:AIV), Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE:SNH), and Two Harbors Investment Corp (NYSE:TWO). This group of stocks belong to the reit – residential industry and their market caps are closest to ACC’s market cap.

With the results shown by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds