Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Harte-Hanks, Inc. (HHS)

What’s a smart Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) investor to do?

To the average investor, there are a multitude of metrics investors can use to analyze Mr. Market. Some of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as useful, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the financial markets. Obviously, there are a number of reasons for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s study the newest info for Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS).

What have hedge funds been doing with Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -14% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management had the most valuable position in Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS), worth close to $33.9 million, accounting for 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Pzena Investment Management’s heels is Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $2.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Judging by the fact that Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) has faced a fall in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of fund managers who were dropping their entire stakes heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital dumped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, worth about $0.3 million in call options., and Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber and Timothy Kroch of Grt Capital Partners was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.1 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds heading into Q2.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS). These stocks are Valassis Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCI), National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI), Constant Contact Inc (NASDAQ:CTCT), MDC Partners Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:MDCA), and Millennial Media, Inc. (NYSE:MM). This group of stocks belong to the marketing services industry and their market caps resemble HHS’s market cap.

Using the returns demonstrated by the previously mentioned research, regular investors should always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

Discover how hedge fund piggybacking can benefit you