In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of gauges shareholders can use to watch Mr. Market. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a solid margin (see just how much).
Equally as necessary, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are many incentives for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).
Now that that’s out of the way, we’re going to discuss the newest info surrounding Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG).
What does the smart money think about Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.
According to our 13F database, Gates Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Gates, holds the biggest position in Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG). Gates Capital Management has a $18 million position in the stock, comprising 0.8% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $4.2 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
Because Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG) has faced declining interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies who were dropping their positions entirely at the end of the second quarter. Interestingly, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital cut the largest position of all the hedgies we monitor, comprising about $4.6 million in stock, and Israel Englander of Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
What have insiders been doing with Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG)?
Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG). These stocks are GSI Group Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:GSIG), Zygo Corporation (NASDAQ:ZIGO), Telenav Inc (NASDAQ:TNAV), Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC), and Mitcham Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIND). This group of stocks are the members of the scientific & technical instruments industry and their market caps are closest to VPG’s market cap.
