Should You Avoid M/I Homes Inc (MHO)?

M/I Homes Inc (NYSE:MHO) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.

In the financial world, there are a multitude of indicators investors can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A duo of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are lots of reasons for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the recent action surrounding M/I Homes Inc (NYSE:MHO).

What does the smart money think about M/I Homes Inc (NYSE:MHO)?

At year’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -50% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS, managed by Joe DiMenna, holds the most valuable position in M/I Homes Inc (NYSE:MHO). ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS has a $14.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.7% of its 13F portfolio. On ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS’s heels is Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $6.3 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Due to the fact that M/I Homes Inc (NYSE:MHO) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of funds who were dropping their positions entirely heading into 2013. It’s worth mentioning that Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP said goodbye to the biggest investment of all the hedgies we monitor, comprising close to $1 million in stock.. Jim Simons’s fund, Renaissance Technologies, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.9 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 6 funds heading into 2013.

What have insiders been doing with M/I Homes Inc (NYSE:MHO)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, M/I Homes Inc (NYSE:MHO) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to M/I Homes Inc (NYSE:MHO). These stocks are Meritage Homes Corp (NYSE:MTH), Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:XIN), Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH), Gafisa SA (ADR) (NYSE:GFA), and Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV). This group of stocks are the members of the residential construction industry and their market caps are closest to MHO’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s strategies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and M/I Homes Inc (NYSE:MHO) is an important part of this process.

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