Is HSN, Inc. (HSNI) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSNI) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of gauges market participants can use to track the equity markets. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the financial markets. There are lots of reasons for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, let’s take a peek at the key action regarding HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSNI).

What have hedge funds been doing with HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSNI)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 10% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Seymour Sy Kaufman and Michael Stark’s Crosslink Capital had the most valuable position in HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSNI), worth close to $12.6 million, accounting for 1.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, which held a $10.9 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Mike Vranos’s Ellington.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Ellington, managed by Mike Vranos, initiated the biggest position in HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSNI). Ellington had 1.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also initiated a $0.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.

Insider trading activity in HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSNI)

Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSNI) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSNI). These stocks are Vitamin Shoppe Inc (NYSE:VSI), Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR), Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SBH), Five Below Inc (NASDAQ:FIVE), and Sothebys (NYSE:BID). This group of stocks belong to the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps resemble HSNI’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned tactics, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSNI) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds