In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of gauges shareholders can use to watch Mr. Market. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outpace the market by a significant margin (see just how much).
Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many reasons for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
Now, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action surrounding TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR).
Hedge fund activity in TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR)
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -47% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the biggest position in TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR), worth close to $15 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Robert B. Gillam of McKinley Capital Management, with a $5.4 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
Seeing as TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR) has experienced declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there were a few money managers who sold off their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital dropped the largest stake of the 450+ funds we track, valued at an estimated $4.7 million in stock.. Mark Broach’s fund, Manatuck Hill Partners, also said goodbye to its stock, about $2.6 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 8 funds at the end of the first quarter.
How are insiders trading TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR)?
Insider buying is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR). These stocks are AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR), LMI Aerospace, Inc. (NASDAQ:LMIA), Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:SWHC), AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV), and Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO). This group of stocks belong to the aerospace/defense products & services industry and their market caps are similar to TASR’s market cap.
