Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC) investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late.
In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of indicators investors can use to analyze their holdings. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a significant margin (see just how much).
Equally as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of motivations for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a gander at the key action surrounding Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC).
Hedge fund activity in Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC)
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 50% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Amy Minella’s Cardinal Capital had the most valuable position in Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC), worth close to $15.6 million, comprising 1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Two Sigma Advisors, managed by John Overdeck and David Siegel, which held a $5.9 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds that are bullish include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds have jumped into Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC) headfirst. Magnetar Capital, managed by Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser, initiated the largest position in Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC). Magnetar Capital had 1.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also made a $1.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new HTGC position is Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
What have insiders been doing with Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC)?
Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC). These stocks are Home Loan Servicing Solutions Ltd (NASDAQ:HLSS), Arlington Asset Investment Corp (NYSE:AI), Ellington Financial LLC (NYSE:EFC), Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corp (NYSE:WMC), and HFF, Inc. (NYSE:HF). This group of stocks are in the mortgage investment industry and their market caps match HTGC’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Home Loan Servicing Solutions Ltd (NASDAQ:HLSS) | 16 | 5 | 0 |
| Arlington Asset Investment Corp (NYSE:AI) | 9 | 0 | 1 |
| Ellington Financial LLC (NYSE:EFC) | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corp (NYSE:WMC) | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| HFF, Inc. (NYSE:HF) | 8 | 0 | 1 |
With the results shown by our research, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE:HTGC) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
