Should Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC) investors track the following data?
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of methods shareholders can use to analyze publicly traded companies. Two of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can trounce the broader indices by a superb margin (see just how much).
Equally as necessary, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to look at the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of motivations for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if investors understand where to look (learn more here).
What’s more, it’s important to analyze the latest info surrounding Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC).
Hedge fund activity in Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC)
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management had the largest position in Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC), worth close to $4.4 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Robert B. Gillam of McKinley Capital Management, with a $2.8 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners, and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
Since Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC) has faced declining interest from the top-tier hedge fund industry, we can see that there exists a select few fund managers that decided to sell off their full holdings in Q1. At the top of the heap, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management cut the largest investment of all the hedgies we track, totaling about $0.7 million in stock. David Costen Haley’s fund, HBK Investments, also dumped its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC)?
Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC). These stocks are BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI), AFC Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFCE), CEC Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:CEC), Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc (NASDAQ:FRGI), and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. (NASDAQ:RRGB). This group of stocks belong to the restaurants industry and their market caps are closest to SONC’s market cap.
