This Metric Says You Are Smart to Buy Lydall, Inc. (LDL)

Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL) investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late.

At the moment, there are plenty of gauges shareholders can use to monitor stocks. Two of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are plenty of motivations for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the recent action encompassing Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL).

What does the smart money think about Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 44% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the biggest position in Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL), worth close to $9 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $4.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Warren Lichtenstein’s Steel Partners and Thomas E. Lynch’s Mill Road Capital Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Gotham Asset Management, managed by Joel Greenblatt, assembled the biggest position in Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL). Gotham Asset Management had 1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new LDL positions are D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.

Insider trading activity in Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL)

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Lydall, Inc. (NYSE:LDL) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds