Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) was in 33 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. EXPE has seen a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months. There were 35 hedge funds in our database with EXPE holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are many indicators shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Obviously, there are lots of motivations for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action encompassing Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE).

What does the smart money think about Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 33 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -6% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.

Of the funds we track, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the most valuable position in Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE). Citadel Investment Group has a $151 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $142 million position; 2.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners and Paul ReederáandáEdward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Management.

Since Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there were a few money managers who sold off their full holdings in Q4. At the top of the heap, Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich’s Scopia Capital sold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies we key on, valued at about $87 million in stock.. Christopher MedlockáJames’s fund, Partner Fund Management, also dropped its stock, about $31 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds in Q4.

Insider trading activity in Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns demonstrated by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) is no exception.

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