Standex Int’l Corp. (SXI): Hedge Funds and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Is Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) a worthy investment today? Money managers are becoming less hopeful. The number of long hedge fund positions were cut by 1 lately.

At the moment, there are plenty of metrics market participants can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A duo 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 fund managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Just as key, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of motivations for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a peek at the key action surrounding Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI).

What does the smart money think about Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -13% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the most valuable position in Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI), worth close to $49 million, accounting for 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Mario Gabelli of GAMCO Investors, with a $8 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

Judging by the fact that Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) has experienced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedge funds that elected to cut their full holdings heading into Q2. Interestingly, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management cut the biggest position of all the hedgies we watch, valued at an estimated $0.3 million in stock.. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s fund, Two Sigma Advisors, also dumped its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into Q2.

Insider trading activity in Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI)

Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI). These stocks are EnPro Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NPO), Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA), Sun Hydraulics Corporation (NASDAQ:SNHY), CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE:CIR), and H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES). This group of stocks are the members of the industrial equipment & components industry and their market caps match SXI’s market cap.

With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) is no exception.

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