In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of gauges market participants can use to track publicly traded companies. A duo of the most useful 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 fund managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a superb margin (see just how much).
Just as necessary, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the world of equities. There are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to study the recent info about Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY).
Hedge fund activity in Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY)
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 30 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 7% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the largest position in Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY). Citadel Investment Group has a $87 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Elm Ridge Capital, managed by Ron Gutfleish, which held a $30.8 million position; the fund has 3.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.
With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain bigger names have jumped into Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) headfirst. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, created the most valuable position in Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY). Citadel Investment Group had 87 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ron Gutfleish’s Elm Ridge Capital also initiated a $30.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY). These stocks are Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY), The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR), Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), Companhia Brasileira de Distrib. (ADR) (NYSE:CBD), and Delhaize Group (ADR) (NYSE:DEG). This group of stocks belong to the grocery stores industry and their market caps are similar to SWY’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) | 29 | 0 | 0 |
| Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| Companhia Brasileira de Distrib. (ADR) (NYSE:CBD) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Delhaize Group (ADR) (NYSE:DEG) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Using the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s research, regular investors must always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) applies perfectly to this mantra.
