Here is What Hedge Funds Think About ExactTarget Inc (ET)

ExactTarget Inc (NYSE:ET) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund interest recently.

To most traders, hedge funds are viewed as slow, old investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we hone in on the upper echelon of this club, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls most of the smart money’s total capital, and by tracking their top picks, we have figured out a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced 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 topped 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 activity is another way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are plenty of reasons for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if you understand what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the recent action surrounding ExactTarget Inc (NYSE:ET).

What does the smart money think about ExactTarget Inc (NYSE:ET)?

At year’s end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -10% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

Of the funds we track, Scott Burney’s Bluefin Investment Management had the biggest position in ExactTarget Inc (NYSE:ET), worth close to $14.9 million, comprising 5.9% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Carlson Capital, managed by Clint Carlson, which held a $13.2 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital, Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group and Charles Clough’s Clough Capital Partners.

Due to the fact that ExactTarget Inc (NYSE:ET) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of hedgies that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. At the top of the heap, Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital said goodbye to the largest position of all the hedgies we key on, worth about $7 million in stock., and Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $4.9 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds last quarter.

How are insiders trading ExactTarget Inc (NYSE:ET)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, ExactTarget Inc (NYSE:ET) has seen 2 unique insiders purchasing, and 17 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to ExactTarget Inc (NYSE:ET). These stocks are VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSEAMEX:VHC), Angie’s List Inc (NASDAQ:ANGI), Net Element Inc (PINK:NETE), DealerTrack Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:TRAK), and J2 Global Inc (NASDAQ:JCOM). This group of stocks belong to the internet software & services industry and their market caps resemble ET’s market cap.

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With the returns demonstrated by our tactics, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and ExactTarget Inc (NYSE:ET) is an important part of this process.

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