Who’s Selling Stratasys, Ltd. (SSYS)?

Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. SSYS investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund interest recently. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with SSYS positions at the end of the previous quarter.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many gauges market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can outpace the broader indices by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. There are many stimuli for an insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you understand where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the key action regarding Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS).

What does the smart money think about Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC had the biggest position in Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS), worth close to $96.5 million, comprising 1.5% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $21.5 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Drew Cupps’s Cupps Capital Management, Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Seeing as Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) has witnessed bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of hedge funds that elected to cut their full holdings at the end of the first quarter. Intriguingly, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw cut the biggest position of the 450+ funds we monitor, worth close to $3.2 million in call options. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also sold off its stock, about $1.7 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Insider trading activity in Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS)

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned tactics, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds