Is Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (WRE) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE) investors should pay attention to a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to watch publicly traded companies. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can beat their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are lots of reasons for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if you know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a gander at the latest action encompassing Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE).

How have hedgies been trading Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE)?

At year’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -25% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the most valuable position in Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE). Renaissance Technologies has a $2.9 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $2.8 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management.

Due to the fact that Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE) has faced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of funds who sold off their full holdings at the end of the year. Intriguingly, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw said goodbye to the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, comprising about $5.5 million in stock.. Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s fund, Bryn Mawr Capital, also cut its stock, about $2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds at the end of the year.

How have insiders been trading Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE)?

Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE). These stocks are Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY), EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR), Glimcher Realty Trust (NYSE:GRT), Alexander’s, Inc. (NYSE:ALX), and Northstar Realty Finance Corp. (NYSE:NRF). All of these stocks are in the reit – retail industry and their market caps are closest to WRE’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds