PVH Corp (PVH): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH) has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late.

In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, outdated investment tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation at present, we hone in on the upper echelon of this club, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing investments, we have spotted a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. 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 began to 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).

Just as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the world of equities. There are many motivations for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the key action encompassing PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH).

What does the smart money think about PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 39 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 18% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Senator Investment Group, managed by Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin, holds the most valuable position in PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH). Senator Investment Group has a $117.5 million position in the stock, comprising 1.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Senator Investment Group’s heels is Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $106.9 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Glenn Fuhrman and John Phelan’s MSD Capital and Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management.

As aggregate interest increased, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, created the most outsized call position in PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH). SAC Capital Advisors had 21.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management also made a $16 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.

Insider trading activity in PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH)

Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 10 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH). These stocks are Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL), Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI), Gildan Activewear Inc (USA) (NYSE:GIL), Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), and Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU). This group of stocks belong to the 0 industry and their market caps resemble PVH’s market cap.