Is Unifi, Inc. (UFI) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI) has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of indicators investors can use to analyze publicly traded companies. Two of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outperform the broader indices by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of incentives for an insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a look at the latest action surrounding Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI).

What have hedge funds been doing with Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 25% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Robert Bishop’s Impala Asset Management had the largest position in Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI), worth close to $20.1 million, accounting for 1.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $17.7 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Consequently, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Impala Asset Management, managed by Robert Bishop, initiated the biggest position in Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI). Impala Asset Management had 20.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI) has seen 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI). These stocks are Mohawk Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MHK), Dixie Group Inc (NASDAQ:DXYN), Interface, Inc. (NASDAQ:TILE), Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN), and Culp, Inc. (NYSE:CFI). All of these stocks are in the textile industrial industry and their market caps are similar to UFI’s market cap.

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With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Unifi, Inc. (NYSE:UFI) is no exception.

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