Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC): Insiders Are Dumping, Should You? – Navistar International Corp (NYSE:NAV), Spartan Motors Inc (NASDAQ:SPAR)

Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC) has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently.

At the moment, there are a multitude of gauges shareholders can use to analyze stocks. Two of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of motivations for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the key action encompassing Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC).

What have hedge funds been doing with Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -7% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Peconic Partners LLC, managed by William Harnisch, holds the biggest position in Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC). Peconic Partners LLC has a $17 million position in the stock, comprising 3.3% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Buckingham Capital Management, managed by David Keidan, which held a $11 million position; the fund has 0.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital, Anthony Giammalva’s Sound Energy Partners and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

Since Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC) has experienced a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there exists a select few funds that decided to sell off their full holdings heading into 2013. Intriguingly, SAC Subsidiary’s CR Intrinsic Investors sold off the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, comprising an estimated $3 million in stock.. Alexander Mitchell’s fund, Scopus Asset Management, also cut its stock, about $1 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into 2013.

How have insiders been trading Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC). These stocks are Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK), Navistar International Corp (NYSE:NAV), Spartan Motors Inc (NASDAQ:SPAR), Accuride Corporation (NYSE:ACW), and Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc (NYSE:HY). This group of stocks are the members of the trucks & other vehicles industry and their market caps resemble WNC’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

Click here to learn more about Insider Monkey’s Hedge Fund Newsletter

Insider Monkey’s small-cap strategy returned 37% between September 2012 and March 2013 versus 12.9% for the S&P 500 index. Try it now by clicking the link above.