Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT)

Is Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT) a worthy investment now? The smart money is taking a bearish view. The number of bullish hedge fund bets stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience

At the moment, there are tons of indicators investors can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce the broader indices by a superb amount (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. Obviously, there are lots of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a gander at the recent action surrounding Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT).

How are hedge funds trading Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the largest position in Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT). Royce & Associates has a $31 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, which held a $1.3 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Because Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, we can see that there exists a select few funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes at the end of the first quarter. Intriguingly, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors dropped the largest investment of the 450+ funds we key on, comprising about $0.1 million in stock. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Insider trading activity in Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT). These stocks are The Wet Seal, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTSL), Destination Maternity Corp (NASDAQ:DEST), Shoe Carnival, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCVL), bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE), and Tilly’s Inc (NYSE:TLYS). This group of stocks belong to the apparel stores industry and their market caps are closest to SMRT’s market cap.