The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (HAIN): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN) was in 19 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. HAIN has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment of late. There were 23 hedge funds in our database with HAIN holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are many gauges investors can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can trounce the broader indices by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are lots of motivations for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the key action regarding The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN).

How are hedge funds trading The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -17% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP had the largest position in The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), worth close to $442.2 million, accounting for 2.6% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Coatue Management, managed by Philippe Laffont, which held a $118.4 million position; the fund has 1.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Glenn J. Krevlin’s Glenhill Advisors.

Because The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN) has witnessed declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few funds who were dropping their full holdings at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies dropped the biggest stake of all the hedgies we watch, worth about $49 million in stock., and James Dondero of Highland Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $25.1 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds at the end of the first quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, 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 The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN). These stocks are Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE), Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO), Hillshire Brands Co (NYSE:HSH), and TreeHouse Foods Inc. (NYSE:THS). This group of stocks belong to the processed & packaged goods industry and their market caps match HAIN’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned studies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN) is an important part of this process.

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