Is Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) an excellent investment now? Investors who are in the know are selling. The number of long hedge fund positions went down by 2 lately.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of indicators investors can use to monitor the equity markets. Some of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).
Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the marketplace. There are a number of stimuli for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a gander at the key action surrounding Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS).
Hedge fund activity in Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS)
At Q1’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -14% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.
According to our comprehensive database, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the biggest position in Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS). AQR Capital Management has a $10.8 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. On AQR Capital Management’s heels is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $7 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
Because Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) has faced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedgies that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw said goodbye to the largest position of the 450+ funds we monitor, worth an estimated $0.9 million in stock.. Matthew Hulsizer’s fund, PEAK6 Capital Management, also cut its call options., about $0.8 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds heading into Q2.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS)?
Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS). These stocks are Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:AM), United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD), Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ:TITN), and Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ). All of these stocks are in the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps are similar to BWS’s market cap.
