Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC): Insiders Are Dumping, Should You? – Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE:DY), Granite Construction Inc. (NYSE:GVA)

Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC) was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. TPC investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest lately. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with TPC positions at the end of the previous quarter.

According to most traders, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, outdated financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the moguls of this group, around 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group oversees most of the smart money’s total capital, and by tracking their best equity investments, we have deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum 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 beaten the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (see all of our picks from August).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the financial markets. There are many incentives for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the latest action surrounding Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC).

What have hedge funds been doing with Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 9% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

Of the funds we track, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management had the biggest position in Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC), worth close to $21 million, comprising 0.6% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Richard S. Pzena of Pzena Investment Management, with a $20 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, created the largest position in Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC). Millennium Management had 2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital also made a $0 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new TPC position is Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC)?

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, Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC). These stocks are Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ:LAYN), Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE:DY), Granite Construction Inc. (NYSE:GVA), Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM), and Aegion Corp – Class A (NASDAQ:AEGN). This group of stocks are in the heavy construction industry and their market caps match TPC’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Tutor Perini Corp (NYSE:TPC) is an important part of this process.