Is Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (SA) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA) has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months.

In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are viewed as slow, outdated financial tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the aristocrats of this group, close to 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by monitoring their highest performing equity investments, we have come up with a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outpaced the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (check out a sample of our picks).

Equally as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action surrounding Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA).

Hedge fund activity in Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 17% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the most valuable position in Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA), worth close to $80.6 million, accounting for 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Weiss Asset Management, managed by Andrew Weiss, which held a $27.9 million position; the fund has 19.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Trey Reik’s Bristol Investment Partners, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have jumped into Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA) headfirst. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, established the most valuable position in Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA). Millennium Management had 0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.

How are insiders trading Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA). These stocks are Nevsun Resources (USA) (NYSEAMEX:NSU), Aurizon Mines Ltd. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:AZK), Alamos Gold Inc (NYSE:AGI), Rubicon Minerals Corp. (USA) (NYSEAMEX:RBY), and Gold Resource Corporation (NYSEAMEX:GORO). All of these stocks are in the gold industry and their market caps match SA’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SA) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds