Signet Jewelers Ltd. (SIG): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG) was in 24 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. SIG has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 27 hedge funds in our database with SIG holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are many indicators shareholders can use to monitor the equity markets. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of incentives for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, we’re going to take a gander at the key action regarding Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG).

How are hedge funds trading Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -11% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Select Equity Group, managed by Robert Joseph Caruso, holds the biggest position in Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG). Select Equity Group has a $211.4 million position in the stock, comprising 2.8% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Odey Asset Management Group, managed by Crispin Odey, which held a $169.7 million position; 5.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include John Armitage’s Egerton Capital Limited, Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC and David Gallo’s Valinor Management LLC.

Judging by the fact that Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds that elected to cut their positions entirely in Q1. Interestingly, David Keidan’s Buckingham Capital Management cut the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, comprising about $11.1 million in stock.. Mark Kingdon’s fund, Kingdon Capital, also sold off its stock, about $2.5 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds in Q1.

How have insiders been trading Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 11 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG). These stocks are Zale Corporation (NYSE:ZLC), Blue Nile Inc (NASDAQ:NILE), Luxottica Group SpA (ADR) (NYSE:LUX), and Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF). This group of stocks are in the jewelry stores industry and their market caps are closest to SIG’s market cap.

With the returns exhibited by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG) is an important part of this process.

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