This Metric Says You Are Smart to Sell AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (AMAP)

AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMAP) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. AMAP shareholders have witnessed a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with AMAP holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In today’s marketplace, there are plenty of methods investors can use to analyze stocks. Two of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can beat the broader indices by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Obviously, there are a variety of motivations for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a gander at the latest action encompassing AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMAP).

How are hedge funds trading AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMAP)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -25% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Scott Sinclair and Laurence Chang’s Cascabel Management had the largest position in AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMAP), worth close to $2.8 million, comprising 1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $1.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, John Wu’s Sureview Capital and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Because AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMAP) has witnessed declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of fund managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Ian P. Murray’s Lanexa Global Management said goodbye to the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, totaling an estimated $0.9 million in stock.. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also sold off its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds at the end of the first quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMAP)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMAP) has experienced 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 AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMAP). These stocks are Proofpoint Inc (NASDAQ:PFPT), E2open Inc (NASDAQ:EOPN), Accelrys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACCL), SciQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SQI), and Bazaarvoice Inc (NASDAQ:BV). This group of stocks are in the application software industry and their market caps are closest to AMAP’s market cap.

With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s research, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and AutoNavi Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMAP) is no exception.

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