Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Apollo Global Management LLC (APO)

Is Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) a healthy stock for your portfolio? Investors who are in the know are buying. The number of long hedge fund positions moved up by 2 in recent months.

If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, old financial tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we hone in on the bigwigs of this club, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on most of the smart money’s total asset base, and by tracking their highest performing investments, we have uncovered a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped 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 began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see all of our picks from August).

Just as important, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if you understand what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, we’re going to take a gander at the key action regarding Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO).

Hedge fund activity in Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO)

At year’s end, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 40% from the previous 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 boosting their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, GMT Capital, managed by Thomas E. Claugus, holds the largest position in Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO). GMT Capital has a $72.4 million position in the stock, comprising 1.8% of its 13F portfolio. On GMT Capital’s heels is Oaktree Capital Management, managed by Howard Marks, which held a $19.1 million position; the fund has 0.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital and Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group.

Consequently, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, established the biggest position in Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO). Driehaus Capital had 3.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group also initiated a $1.7 million position during the quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time frame, Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO). These stocks are NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ), Apollo Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AINV), Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC), A.F.P Provida SA (ADR) (NYSE:PVD), and CBOE Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ:CBOE). All of these stocks are in the diversified investments industry and their market caps are similar to APO’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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