Should You Buy Eaton Vance Corp (EV)?

Is Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV) the right investment to pursue these days? Prominent investors are getting more optimistic. The number of long hedge fund bets advanced by 1 lately.

In today’s marketplace, there are many metrics shareholders can use to track their holdings. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of motivations for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action surrounding Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV).

How are hedge funds trading Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.

Of the funds we track, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the largest position in Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV), worth close to $10.7 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Manatuck Hill Partners, managed by Mark Broach, which held a $9 million position; the fund has 1.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, established the largest position in Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV). Citadel Investment Group had 10.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners also initiated a $9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new EV positions are Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

What have insiders been doing with Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV). These stocks are Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE:OZM), Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE:LM), Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ), American Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACAS), and SEI Investments Company (NASDAQ:SEIC). This group of stocks are the members of the asset management industry and their market caps resemble EV’s market cap.