VCA Antech Inc (WOOF): 2 Crucial Pieces Of Data You Need To See

VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF) has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest of late.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of metrics market participants can use to analyze their holdings. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a look at the latest action regarding VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF).

Hedge fund activity in VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF)

At year’s end, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 21% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Claus Moller’s P2 Capital Partners had the biggest position in VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF), worth close to $51.7 million, comprising 10% of its total 13F portfolio. On P2 Capital Partners’s heels is Richard S. Pzena of Pzena Investment Management, with a $34.9 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital, Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Eminence Capital, managed by Ricky Sandler, established the largest position in VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF). Eminence Capital had 21.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also initiated a $19 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new WOOF investors: Daniel Arbess’s Xerion, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

How have insiders been trading VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF). These stocks are G&K Services Inc (NASDAQ:GK), Regis Corporation (NYSE:RGS), Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI), Weight Watchers International, Inc. (NYSE:WTW), and Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc (NYSE:BFAM). This group of stocks are in the personal services industry and their market caps resemble WOOF’s market cap.

With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s research, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and VCA Antech Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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