Is HomeAway, Inc. (AWAY) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY) was in 21 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. AWAY investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with AWAY positions at the end of the previous quarter.

To the average investor, there are plenty of indicators market participants can use to track publicly traded companies. Some of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can beat the market by a solid margin (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Many 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, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action regarding HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY).

How are hedge funds trading HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 110% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

Of the funds we track, Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Donald Chiboucis, holds the most valuable position in HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY). Columbus Circle Investors has a $14.9 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Columbus Circle Investors’s heels is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $14.3 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management, Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital and Daniel Benton’s Andor Capital Management.

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Donald Chiboucis, established the biggest position in HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY). Columbus Circle Investors had 14.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital also initiated a $11.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AWAY positions are Daniel Benton’s Andor Capital Management, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management.

How have insiders been trading HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 12 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY). These stocks are IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI), ValueClick Inc (NASDAQ:VCLK), AOL, Inc. (NYSE:AOL), Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), and Youku Tudou Inc (ADR) (NYSE:YOKU). This group of stocks are in the internet information providers industry and their market caps are closest to AWAY’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds