Pacer International, Inc. (PACR): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACR) investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months.

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of metrics market participants can use to watch Mr. Market. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. There are many reasons for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action encompassing Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACR).

Hedge fund activity in Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACR)

Heading into 2013, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACR). Royce & Associates has a $3.3 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $2.2 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Kroch’s GRT Capital Partners.

Seeing as Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACR) has witnessed falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of money managers who were dropping their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Tim Flannery’s Copia Capital dumped the largest position of all the hedgies we track, comprising an estimated $1.3 million in stock.. Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s fund, Algert Coldiron Investors, also sold off its stock, about $0.7 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How are insiders trading Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACR)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACR) has experienced 5 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACR). These stocks are Guangshen Railway Co. Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:GSH), American Railcar Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARII), Greenbrier Companies Inc (NYSE:GBX), Providence & Worcester Railroad Company (NASDAQ:PWX), and FreightCar America, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAIL). This group of stocks are in the railroads industry and their market caps are similar to PACR’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACR) is an important part of this process.

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