In the financial world, there are plenty of gauges investors can use to track Mr. Market. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can trounce the market by a solid margin (see just how much).
Just as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the investments you’re interested in. There are plenty of reasons for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you understand where to look (learn more here).
What’s more, let’s analyze the latest info about Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG).
How have hedgies been trading Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.
According to our 13F database, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw had the biggest position in Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG), worth close to $79.3 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is AEW Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Furber, which held a $55 million position; 1.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers that are bullish include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Because Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG) has witnessed a fall in interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes in Q1. At the top of the heap, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors dropped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we track, worth an estimated $1.1 million in stock. Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s fund, Bryn Mawr Capital, also sold off its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Insider trading activity in Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG)
Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time frame, Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG). These stocks are Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE:HPT), CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL), Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI), DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR), and Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO). This group of stocks belong to the reit – retail industry and their market caps resemble REG’s market cap.
