Triple-S Management Corp. (GTS): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Is Triple-S Management Corp.(NYSE:GTS) the right investment to pursue these days? Hedge funds are taking a bullish view. The number of long hedge fund bets improved by 1 lately.

To most stock holders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, outdated financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at the moment, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the leaders of this group, about 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls most of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by monitoring their top picks, we have formulated a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (check out a sample of our picks).

Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are plenty of reasons for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action regarding Triple-S Management Corp.(NYSE:GTS).

Hedge fund activity in Triple-S Management Corp.(NYSE:GTS)

In preparation for this year, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 17% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Thomas Ellis and Todd Hammer’s North Run Capital had the largest position in Triple-S Management Corp.(NYSE:GTS), worth close to $24.7 million, comprising 2.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Anthony Bozza of Lakewood Capital Management, with a $10.7 million position; the fund has 0.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Tudor Investment Corp, managed by Paul Tudor Jones, initiated the largest position in Triple-S Management Corp.(NYSE:GTS). Tudor Investment Corp had 0.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also initiated a $0.3 million position during the quarter.

How are insiders trading Triple-S Management Corp.(NYSE:GTS)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Triple-S Management Corp.(NYSE:GTS) has seen 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 Triple-S Management Corp.(NYSE:GTS). These stocks are Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ), CNO Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CNO), StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SFG), Eastern Insurance Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:EIHI), and PICO Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PICO). This group of stocks are in the accident & health insurance industry and their market caps match GTS’s market cap.