This Metric Says You Are Smart to Buy Saks Inc (SKS)

To the average investor, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to analyze stocks. Some of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can trounce the market by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as useful, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of incentives for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you know what to do (learn more here).

Furthermore, let’s analyze the newest info surrounding Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS).

What have hedge funds been doing with Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 38% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

Out of the funds we follow, Mason Hawkins’s Southeastern Asset Management had the largest position in Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS), worth close to $179.8 million, accounting for 0.9% of its total 13F portfolio. On Southeastern Asset Management’s heels is Caxton Associates LP, managed by Bruce Kovner, which held a $90 million position; the fund has 4.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Consequently, particular funds have been driving this bullishness. Southeastern Asset Management, managed by Mason Hawkins, established the most valuable position in Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS). Southeastern Asset Management had 179.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP also made a $90 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SKS investors: Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS) has experienced 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 Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS). These stocks are Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS), Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD), Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS), J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP), and Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc (NASDAQ:SHOS). This group of stocks are the members of the department stores industry and their market caps are similar to SKS’s market cap.

Using the results shown by our strategies, average investors must always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Saks Inc (NYSE:SKS) is no exception.

Discover how hedge fund piggybacking can benefit you