Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD) has seen a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently.
In today’s marketplace, there are tons of metrics market participants can use to watch the equity markets. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can beat the broader indices by a significant amount (see just how much).
Just as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the world of equities. There are lots of incentives for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action regarding Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD).
What does the smart money think about Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.
According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD). Royce & Associates has a $173.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is John W. Rogers of Ariel Investments, with a $73.1 million position; the fund has 1.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider’s SG Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Charles Davidson’s Wexford Capital.
Judging by the fact that Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD) has witnessed a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there exists a select few fund managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes heading into 2013. Interestingly, Geoffrey Raynor’s Q Investments (Specter Holdings) dropped the biggest stake of all the hedgies we track, valued at about $1 million in stock., and Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $0.1 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD). These stocks are The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML), Makita Corporation (ADR) (NASDAQ:MKTAY), Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA), Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO), and The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC). This group of stocks belong to the small tools & accessories industry and their market caps match SSD’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Makita Corporation (ADR) (NASDAQ:MKTAY) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) | 19 | 0 | 8 |
| Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) | 11 | 0 | 10 |
| The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) | 13 | 1 | 10 |
With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
