Movado Group, Inc (NYSE:MOV) investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately.
According to most stock holders, hedge funds are viewed as underperforming, old investment vehicles of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the masters of this group, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their top stock picks, we have found a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (see all of our picks from August).
Just as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are plenty of stimuli for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
Now, let’s take a gander at the recent action surrounding Movado Group, Inc (NYSE:MOV).
How are hedge funds trading Movado Group, Inc (NYSE:MOV)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -5% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, holds the most valuable position in Movado Group, Inc (NYSE:MOV). SAC Capital Advisors has a $24 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by SAC Subsidiary of Sigma Capital Management, with a $24 million position; the fund has 1.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital.
Seeing as Movado Group, Inc (NYSE:MOV) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few hedgies that decided to sell off their positions entirely heading into 2013. Intriguingly, J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management dropped the biggest position of all the hedgies we monitor, valued at an estimated $1 million in stock.. Douglas W. Case’s fund, Advanced Investment Partners, also cut its stock, about $0 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds heading into 2013.
How have insiders been trading Movado Group, Inc (NYSE:MOV)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Movado Group, Inc (NYSE:MOV) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns shown by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Movado Group, Inc (NYSE:MOV) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
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