Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) was in 23 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. POT investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund interest recently. There were 27 hedge funds in our database with POT positions at the end of the previous quarter.
In the eyes of most stock holders, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, old financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we at Insider Monkey look at the top tier of this group, close to 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by watching their top stock picks, we have determined 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 a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of stimuli for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if you understand what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action regarding Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT).
Hedge fund activity in Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT)
At Q1’s end, a total of 23 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -15% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.
Because Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) has experienced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there were a few hedgies that elected to cut their full holdings last quarter. Intriguingly, Philippe Jabre’s Jabre Capital Partners said goodbye to the largest investment of all the hedgies we watch, worth an estimated $73.2 million in call options, and Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $58.4 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds last quarter.
What have insiders been doing with Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time frame, Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns shown by our studies, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) is no exception.
