Here is What Hedge Funds Think About The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO)

The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) has seen an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately.

In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, outdated investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading today, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the upper echelon of this group, close to 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by watching their best picks, we have figured out a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year 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 topped the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (explore the details and some picks here).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of incentives for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you know what to do (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action regarding The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO).

How have hedgies been trading The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 67% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had the biggest position in The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO), worth close to $631 million, accounting for 0.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Southeastern Asset Management, managed by Mason Hawkins, which held a $201 million position; the fund has 0.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include Charles de Vaulx’s International Value Advisers, Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner and John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments.

As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Nantahala Capital Management, managed by Wilmot B. Harkey and Daniel Mack, established the most outsized position in The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO). Nantahala Capital Management had 4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners also made a $3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp, and Abby Flamholz and Yehuda Blinder’s ADAR Investment Management.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns exhibited by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) is an important part of this process.

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