Mag Silver Corp (USA) (MVG): Hedge Funds and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Is Mag Silver Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:MVG) worth your attention right now? Money managers are becoming less hopeful. The number of long hedge fund positions stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of methods shareholders can use to monitor the equity markets. A couple 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 best picks of the top money managers can outperform the market by a solid amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of stimuli for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the key action regarding Mag Silver Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:MVG).

How have hedgies been trading Mag Silver Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:MVG)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Sprott Asset Management, managed by Eric Sprott, holds the most valuable position in Mag Silver Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:MVG). Sprott Asset Management has a $26.2 million position in the stock, comprising 3.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Peter Franklin Palmedo of Sun Valley Gold, with a $9.4 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates.

Judging by the fact that Mag Silver Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:MVG) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies dropped the biggest position of the 450+ funds we watch, totaling close to $0.1 million in stock. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How have insiders been trading Mag Silver Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:MVG)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Mag Silver Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:MVG) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Mag Silver Corp (USA) (NYSEAMEX:MVG). These stocks are First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG), Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL), Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SSRI), Silvercorp Metals Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SVM), and Endeavour Silver Corp. (CAN) (NYSE:EXK). This group of stocks are the members of the silver industry and their market caps match MVG’s market cap.