Should You Avoid Kimball International Inc (KBAL)?

Although the masses and most of the financial media blame hedge funds for their exorbitant fee structure and disappointing performance, these investors have proved to have great stock picking abilities over the years (that’s why their assets under management continue to swell). We believe hedge fund sentiment should serve as a crucial tool of an individual investor’s stock selection process, as it may offer great insights of how the brightest minds of the finance industry feel about specific stocks. After all, these people have access to smartest analysts and expensive data/information sources that individual investors can’t match. So should one consider investing in Kimball International Inc (NASDAQ:KBAL)? The smart money sentiment can provide an answer to this question.

Kimball International Inc (NASDAQ:KBAL) was in 9 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. Kimball International Inc (NASDAQ:KBAL) has seen a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with Kimball International Inc (NASDAQ:KBAL) positions at the end of the previous quarter. It is important to note that the shares of the company were trading 22.2% lower during the third quarter, aligning perfectly with the hedge fund sentiment.

In order to find out more about the hedge fund sentiment, we will compare Kimball International Inc (NASDAQ:KBAL) to other stocks including Landauer, Inc. (NYSE:LDR), Spok Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SPOK), and Jive Software Inc (NASDAQ:JIVE) to get a better sense of its popularity.

Today, there are a lot of methods stock traders have at their disposal to grade publicly traded companies. Two of the less utilized methods are hedge fund and insider trading interest. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a significant margin (see the details here).

Now, let’s check out the latest action surrounding Kimball International Inc (NASDAQ:KBAL).

What have hedge funds been doing with Kimball International Inc (NASDAQ:KBAL)?

At the end of September, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a drop of 18% from the second quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates has the number one position in Kimball International Inc (NASDAQ:KBAL), worth close to $12.9 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Renaissance Technologies, which holds a $5.1 million position; the fund has less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining members of the smart money that are bullish consist of Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Peter Keane’s Keane Capital Management, and D E Shaw.