Susser Holdings Corporation (SUSS): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It But Hedge Funds Love It

Should investors be bullish on Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS)?

If you were to ask many investors, hedge funds are assumed to be bloated, outdated financial tools of a period lost to current times. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds trading currently, this site looks at the moguls of this group, around 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group controls most of the hedge fund industry’s total assets, and by watching their highest quality picks, we’ve come up with a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS)

Just as necessary, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to look at the marketplace. Obviously, there are a variety of motivations for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Thus, let’s analyze the newest info for Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS).

What does the smart money think about Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 29% 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 upping their holdings significantly.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Abby Flamholz and Yehuda Blinder’s ADAR Investment Management had the biggest position in Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS), worth close to $16.3 million, comprising 3.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Ionic Capital Management, managed by Bart Baum, which held a $13.5 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management and Jesse Ro’s Tiger Legatus Capital.

Now, certain money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. ADAR Investment Management, managed by Abby Flamholz and Yehuda Blinder, established the most valuable position in Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS). ADAR Investment Management had 16.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Bart Baum’s Ionic Capital Management also initiated a $13.5 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SUSS investors: Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management, and Jesse Ro’s Tiger Legatus Capital.

What have insiders been doing with Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS). These stocks are The Fresh Market Inc (NASDAQ:TFM), Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:CORE), Village Super Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:VLGEA), SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE:SVU), and Weis Markets, Inc. (NYSE:WMK). This group of stocks are the members of the grocery stores industry and their market caps resemble SUSS’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
The Fresh Market Inc (NASDAQ:TFM) 11 0 0
Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:CORE) 14 0 0
Village Super Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:VLGEA) 4 0 0
SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE:SVU) 34 0 0
Weis Markets, Inc. (NYSE:WMK) 8 0 0

Using the returns shown by our strategies, regular investors must always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Susser Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SUSS) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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