Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Metals USA Holdings Corp (MUSA)

Metals USA Holdings Corp (NYSE:MUSA) has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months.

To the average investor, there are a multitude of indicators investors can use to monitor stocks. A pair of the most underrated 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 elite fund managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as key, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action surrounding Metals USA Holdings Corp (NYSE:MUSA).

How have hedgies been trading Metals USA Holdings Corp (NYSE:MUSA)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -11% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw had the largest position in Metals USA Holdings Corp (NYSE:MUSA), worth close to $9.7 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. On D E Shaw’s heels is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $5.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Because Metals USA Holdings Corp (NYSE:MUSA) has faced falling interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of funds that slashed their entire stakes last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Charles Davidson’s Wexford Capital said goodbye to the largest position of all the hedgies we track, totaling an estimated $0.7 million in stock.. Neil Chriss’s fund, Hutchin Hill Capital, also dumped its stock, about $0.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds last quarter.

How have insiders been trading Metals USA Holdings Corp (NYSE:MUSA)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time frame, Metals USA Holdings Corp (NYSE:MUSA) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Metals USA Holdings Corp (NYSE:MUSA). These stocks are Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC), Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC), AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS), SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC), and Gibraltar Industries Inc (NASDAQ:ROCK). This group of stocks are the members of the steel & iron industry and their market caps are similar to MUSA’s market cap.