Viad Corp (VVI): Insiders Are Dumping, Should You?

Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI) shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund sentiment recently.

At the moment, there are dozens of gauges market participants can use to monitor their holdings. A couple of the most innovative 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 beat the S&P 500 by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a number of motivations for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a peek at the recent action encompassing Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI).

How have hedgies been trading Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 67% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Starboard Value LP, managed by Jeffrey Smith, holds the biggest position in Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI). Starboard Value LP has a $15.6 million position in the stock, comprising 1.8% of its 13F portfolio. On Starboard Value LP’s heels is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $5.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

As one would reasonably expect, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, created the most outsized position in Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI). Citadel Investment Group had 2.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new VVI positions are D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital.

How have insiders been trading Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, 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 Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI). These stocks are Examworks Group, Inc. (NYSE:EXAM), COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR), Performant Financial Corp (NASDAQ:PFMT), Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN), and Envestnet Inc (NYSE:ENV). All of these stocks are in the business services industry and their market caps are similar to VVI’s market cap.

With the returns shown by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds