This Metric Says You Are Smart to Sell Micrel, Incorporated (MCRL)

Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately.

In today’s marketplace, there are many metrics market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a peek at the key action surrounding Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL).

How have hedgies been trading Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -14% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the largest position in Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL), worth close to $31.4 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $11.9 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Judging by the fact that Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL) has witnessed falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there is a sect of fund managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management said goodbye to the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, worth about $0.2 million in stock.. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s fund, Two Sigma Advisors, also cut its stock, about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds last quarter.

How are insiders trading Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL). These stocks are Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (NASDAQ:AMCC), OmniVision Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:OVTI), EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:EZCH), Aeroflex Holding Corp. (NYSE:ARX), and Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR). This group of stocks are in the semiconductor – integrated circuits industry and their market caps resemble MCRL’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s research, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL) is an important part of this process.

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