What Hedge Funds Think About Horace Mann Educators Corporation (HMN)

In the financial world, there are plenty of indicators investors can use to track stocks. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as useful, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to look at the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of incentives for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, we’re going to examine the newest info for Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN).

How have hedgies been trading Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN)?

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 -20% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

According to our 13F database, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the most valuable position in Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN). AQR Capital Management has a $26.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by John W. Rogers of Ariel Investments, with a $10.6 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Since Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN) has experienced a fall in interest from the smart money’s best and brightest, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedgies that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q2. Interestingly, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw sold off the largest position of the 450+ funds we monitor, worth close to $0.8 million in stock, and Paul Tudor Jones of Tudor Investment Corp was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.6 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds heading into Q2.

How are insiders trading Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN). These stocks are Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG), Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT), Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLRE), Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD), and The Navigators Group, Inc (NASDAQ:NAVG). All of these stocks are in the property & casualty insurance industry and their market caps match HMN’s market cap.

Using the results demonstrated by the previously mentioned research, average investors must always track hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN) is an important part of this process.

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