Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT) shareholders have witnessed an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately.
According to most stock holders, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, old investment vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the upper echelon of this group, around 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group oversees the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by paying attention to their top stock picks, we have spotted a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).
Just as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of motivations for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the key action regarding Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT).
What does the smart money think about Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 30 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 15% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
According to our comprehensive database, Valinor Management LLC, managed by David Gallo, holds the biggest position in Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT). Valinor Management LLC has a $77.4 million position in the stock, comprising 3.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Valinor Management LLC’s heels is Odey Asset Management Group, managed by Crispin Odey, which held a $72.3 million position; the fund has 2.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Robert Bishop’s Impala Asset Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.
Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT) headfirst. Sandler Capital Management, managed by Andrew Sandler, initiated the biggest position in Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT). Sandler Capital Management had 12.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Daniel Arbess’s Xerion also made a $11.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, and Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital.
How have insiders been trading Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT)?
Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT). These stocks are Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL), Knight Transportation (NYSE:KNX), Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR), Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN), and Con-way Inc (NYSE:CNW). This group of stocks are in the trucking industry and their market caps resemble SWFT’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) | 20 | 0 | 1 |
| Knight Transportation (NYSE:KNX) | 17 | 0 | 4 |
| Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) | 10 | 0 | 2 |
| Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) | 10 | 0 | 1 |
| Con-way Inc (NYSE:CNW) | 15 | 0 | 7 |
With the returns exhibited by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT) applies perfectly to this mantra.
