iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:SLV) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. SLV has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest lately. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with SLV holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
Just as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of reasons for an insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the latest action surrounding iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:SLV).
What have hedge funds been doing with iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:SLV)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -8% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Empyrean Capital Partners, managed by Michael A. Price and Amos Meron, holds the most valuable position in iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:SLV). Empyrean Capital Partners has a $41.1 million call position in the stock, comprising 0.9% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Michael A. Price and Amos Meron of Empyrean Capital Partners, with a $20.6 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
Because iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:SLV) has faced falling interest from the smart money, we can see that there exists a select few money managers who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q2. Intriguingly, Peter Franklin Palmedo’s Sun Valley Gold said goodbye to the largest position of the 450+ funds we monitor, valued at an estimated $132.2 million in call options, and Peter Franklin Palmedo of Sun Valley Gold was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $16.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into Q2.
How are insiders trading iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:SLV)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:SLV) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns exhibited by the aforementioned research, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:SLV) applies perfectly to this mantra.
