Mario Gabelli’s Latest Move In Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (WHG)

In the hedge fund universe, GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, dumped almost 49,000 shares of Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG), reducing its position in the company to 733,100 shares, a 13D filing with the SEC revealed. In the latest round of 13F filings, GAMCO disclosed its equity portfolio at the end of the second quarter, reporting  ownership of 782,000 shares, cutting the stake by 12,800 shares over the quarter. Over the past couple of years, Mario Gabelli has been bearish on Westwood Holdings, diminishing the position each quarter.

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Just as crucial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the financial markets. Obviously, there are lots of reasons for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

Thus, we’re going to examine the recent info for Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG).

Hedge fund activity in Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG)

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.

According to our 13F database, GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, holds the most valuable position in Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG). GAMCO Investors has a $33.6 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $30.5 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Insider trading activity in Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG)

Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG). These stocks are Pzena Investment Management, Inc. (NYSE:PZN), PennantPark Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:PNNT), Noah Holdings Limited (ADR) (NYSE:NOAH), THL Credit, Inc. (NASDAQ:TCRD), and MCG Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:MCGC). All of these stocks are in the asset management industry and their market caps resemble WHG’s market cap.

Using the returns demonstrated by the previously mentioned studies, average investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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