MTS Systems Corporation (NASDAQ:MTSC) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. MTSC has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with MTSC holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).
Now, we’re going to take a gander at the key action surrounding MTS Systems Corporation (NASDAQ:MTSC).
Hedge fund activity in MTS Systems Corporation (NASDAQ:MTSC)
In preparation for this year, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -8% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the biggest position in MTS Systems Corporation (NASDAQ:MTSC), worth close to $31.5 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $9.1 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors.
Judging by the fact that MTS Systems Corporation (NASDAQ:MTSC) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there exists a select few funds who sold off their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management dumped the biggest investment of all the hedgies we track, worth close to $1.1 million in stock.. Steven Cohen’s fund, SAC Capital Advisors, also cut its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds last quarter.
How are insiders trading MTS Systems Corporation (NASDAQ:MTSC)?
Insider buying is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, MTS Systems Corporation (NASDAQ:MTSC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to MTS Systems Corporation (NASDAQ:MTSC). These stocks are Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE:BMI), ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE), Ion Geophysical Corp (NYSE:IO), II-VI, Inc. (NASDAQ:IIVI), and Analogic Corporation (NASDAQ:ALOG). All of these stocks are in the scientific & technical instruments industry and their market caps resemble MTSC’s market cap.
