Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET) shareholders have witnessed an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.

According to most market participants, hedge funds are perceived as slow, old investment tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the crème de la crème of this club, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group controls the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing equity investments, we have uncovered a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. 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 started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (see all of our picks from August).

Just as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the marketplace. There are a variety of motivations for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the latest action regarding Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET).

What have hedge funds been doing with Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 13% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Corsair Capital Management, managed by Jay Petschek and Steven Major, holds the biggest position in Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET). Corsair Capital Management has a $25 million position in the stock, comprising 4.2% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Greenlight Capital, managed by David Einhorn, which held a $19 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, assembled the biggest position in Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET). Millennium Management had 1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also initiated a $0 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors and Mark A. Nordlicht’s Platinum Management.

Insider trading activity in Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET)

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET). These stocks are Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT), Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA (ADR) (NYSE:GOL), Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:HA), SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW), and Era Group Inc (NYSE:ERA). All of these stocks are in the regional airlines industry and their market caps match RJET’s market cap.

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With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s strategies, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RJET) is an important part of this process.

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