Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest in recent months.
To most traders, hedge funds are perceived as slow, outdated financial tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we hone in on the crème de la crème of this group, about 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group oversees most of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by paying attention to their highest performing stock picks, we have spotted a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum 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 outclassed the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (check out a sample of our picks).
Equally as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of stimuli for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the recent action regarding Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII).
What does the smart money think about Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 26 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 4% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Discovery Capital Management, managed by Rob Citrone, holds the largest position in Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII). Discovery Capital Management has a $51 million billion position in the stock, comprising 0.7% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by OZ Management, managed by Daniel S. Och, which held a $42 million call position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII) headfirst. OZ Management, managed by Daniel S. Och, assembled the biggest call position in Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII). OZ Management had 42 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Curtis Macnguyen’s Ivory Capital (Investment Mgmt) also initiated a $12 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new PII investors: John Fichthorn’s Dialectic Capital Management, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, and Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP.
Insider trading activity in Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time frame, Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 11 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results exhibited by our tactics, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII) applies perfectly to this mantra.
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