Is DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (DHX) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX) has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many methods market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are plenty of motivations for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the latest action encompassing DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX).

What have hedge funds been doing with DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -18% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Clifton S. Robbins’s Blue Harbour Group had the most valuable position in DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX), worth close to $29.4 million, accounting for 3% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Cascabel Management, managed by Scott Sinclair and Laurence Chang, which held a $10.9 million position; the fund has 3.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Alexander Medina Seaver’s Stadium Capital Management and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Judging by the fact that DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX) has experienced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedge funds who were dropping their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group cut the biggest stake of all the hedgies we track, valued at about $1.9 million in stock.. Matthew Hulsizer’s fund, PEAK6 Capital Management, also cut its call options., about $0.3 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX). These stocks are Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI), Compass Diversified Holdings (NYSE:CODI), AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (NYSE:AHS), Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:KELYA), and Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC). This group of stocks are in the staffing & outsourcing services industry and their market caps are closest to DHX’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s strategies, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds