Manpowergroup Inc (MAN): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN) was in 16 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. MAN has seen an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late. There were 15 hedge funds in our database with MAN holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

To most market participants, hedge funds are assumed to be worthless, old financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the upper echelon of this club, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group controls the majority of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by monitoring their top picks, we have discovered a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year 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 beaten the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (check out a sample of our picks).

Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a glance at the key action regarding Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN).

Hedge fund activity in Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 7% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

Of the funds we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN). Royce & Associates has a $70.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $36.3 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC.

As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN) headfirst. Scopus Asset Management, managed by Alexander Mitchell, assembled the biggest position in Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN). Scopus Asset Management had 27.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC also initiated a $15.5 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new MAN investors: Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

Insider trading activity in Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN). These stocks are On Assignment, Inc. (NYSE:ASGN), Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX), 51job, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JOBS), Team Health Holdings LLC (NYSE:TMH), and Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI). All of these stocks are in the staffing & outsourcing services industry and their market caps are closest to MAN’s market cap.

With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s tactics, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN) applies perfectly to this mantra.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds