This Metric Says You Are Smart to Buy DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (DCT)

DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT) was in 8 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. DCT investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest lately. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with DCT holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In the financial world, there are plenty of indicators investors can use to watch publicly traded companies. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as integral, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are a number of incentives for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if you understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the key action encompassing DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT).

What have hedge funds been doing with DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 14% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the biggest position in DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT), worth close to $15.9 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $9 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and Anil Stevens and Glenn Shapiro’s Parameter Capital Management.

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, established the largest position in DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT). Arrowstreet Capital had 2.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.

How are insiders trading DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (NYSE:DCT). These stocks are Eastgroup Properties Inc (NYSE:EGP), First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FR), Potlatch Corporation (NASDAQ:PCH), Sovran Self Storage Inc (NYSE:SSS), and CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE). This group of stocks are the members of the reit – industrial industry and their market caps are similar to DCT’s market cap.