Should You Avoid Select Medical Holdings Corporation (SEM)?

Is it smart to be bullish on Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM)?

In the financial world, there are dozens of indicators shareholders can use to monitor stocks. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as crucial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to look at the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of reasons for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).

What’s more, let’s analyze the newest info about Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM).

What have hedge funds been doing with Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 19 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -10% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

According to our 13F database, Regiment Capital, managed by Timothy S. Peterson, holds the largest position in Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM). Regiment Capital has a $12.3 million position in the stock, comprising 3.5% of its 13F portfolio. On Regiment Capital’s heels is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $11.1 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management.

Due to the fact Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM) has witnessed declining interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedge funds who sold off their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors said goodbye to the biggest position of all the hedgies we watch, totaling an estimated $0.9 million in stock, and Neil Chriss of Hutchin Hill Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds last quarter.

How are insiders trading Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM). These stocks are Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH), Health Management Associates Inc (NYSE:HMA), LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPNT), Amsurg Corp (NASDAQ:AMSG), and Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VHS). This group of stocks belong to the hospitals industry and their market caps are similar to SEM’s market cap.