Quality Distribution, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLTY) has experienced a decrease in hedge fund interest of late.
At the moment, there are tons of metrics market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can beat their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action regarding Quality Distribution, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLTY).
How have hedgies been trading Quality Distribution, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLTY)?
At year’s end, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -22% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Ancient Art (Teton Capital), managed by Quincy Lee, holds the biggest position in Quality Distribution, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLTY). Ancient Art (Teton Capital) has a $3.7 million position in the stock, comprising 1.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Ancient Art (Teton Capital)’s heels is Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which held a $0.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
Because Quality Distribution, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLTY) has witnessed falling interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of hedge funds that elected to cut their full holdings in Q4. Intriguingly, Robert Bishop’s Impala Asset Management said goodbye to the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, totaling close to $4.5 million in stock.. “Richard S. Meisenberg’s fund, ACK Asset Management, also dropped its stock, about $3.5 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds in Q4.
Insider trading activity in Quality Distribution, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLTY)
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Quality Distribution, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLTY) has experienced 5 unique insiders buying, 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 Quality Distribution, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLTY). These stocks are Vitran Corporation, Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:VTNC), Celadon Group, Inc. (NYSE:CGI), Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN), Arkansas Best Corporation (NASDAQ:ABFS), and Patriot Transportation Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:PATR). This group of stocks are in the trucking industry and their market caps are closest to QLTY’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Vitran Corporation, Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:VTNC) | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Celadon Group, Inc. (NYSE:CGI) | 10 | 1 | 6 |
| Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN) | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Arkansas Best Corporation (NASDAQ:ABFS) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Patriot Transportation Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:PATR) | 1 | 0 | 3 |
With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Quality Distribution, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLTY) is no exception.
