This Metric Says You Are Smart to Sell Vera Bradley, Inc. (VRA)

Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) was in 8 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. VRA shareholders have witnessed a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. There were 14 hedge funds in our database with VRA positions at the end of the previous quarter.

To the average investor, there are tons of methods investors can use to track the equity markets. Two of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can beat the broader indices by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are many reasons for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the key action encompassing Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA).

How have hedgies been trading Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -43% from the previous quarter.

Seeing as Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) has witnessed declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there was a specific group of hedgies that elected to cut their full holdings in Q1. Interestingly, Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management said goodbye to the largest investment of the 450+ funds we track, comprising close to $43.6 million in stock., and Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $10.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 6 funds in Q1.

How are insiders trading Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA). These stocks are Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO), Iconix Brand Group Inc (NASDAQ:ICON), Tumi Holdings Inc (NYSE:TUMI), Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX), and Skechers USA Inc (NYSE:SKX). This group of stocks are the members of the textile – apparel footwear & accessories industry and their market caps resemble VRA’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) is no exception.

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