Imperva Inc (IMPV): Hedge Fund and Insider Sentiment Unchanged, What Should You Do?

Should Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV) investors track the following data?

In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of methods market participants can use to analyze Mr. Market. A duo 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 outclass the market by a superb amount (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of motivations for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

Furthermore, we’re going to study the latest info surrounding Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV).

Hedge fund activity in Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV)

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

According to our 13F database, Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Donald Chiboucis, holds the biggest position in Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV). Columbus Circle Investors has a $31.7 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Panayotis Sparaggis of Alkeon Capital Management, with a $27.1 million position; 0.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners, Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital and Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital.

As Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV) has witnessed declining interest from the top-tier hedge fund industry, we can see that there is a sect of fund managers that slashed their full holdings in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Daniel Benton’s Andor Capital Management said goodbye to the biggest position of all the hedgies we key on, worth an estimated $13.5 million in stock. Philip Hempleman’s fund, Ardsley Partners, also cut its stock, about $5.9 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How have insiders been trading Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV). These stocks are Lifelock Inc (NYSE:LOCK), FleetMatics Group PLC (NYSE:FLTX), Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:TYPE), Jive Software Inc (NASDAQ:JIVE), and Insight Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSIT). This group of stocks are the members of the application software industry and their market caps match IMPV’s market cap.