Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE:FUR) was in 7 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. FUR has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with FUR holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
According to most investors, hedge funds are seen as underperforming, outdated investment tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the top tier of this group, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing stock picks, we have formulated a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (check out a sample of our picks).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, let’s take a gander at the latest action regarding Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE:FUR).
What have hedge funds been doing with Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE:FUR)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -13% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
Of the funds we track, J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management had the biggest position in Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE:FUR), worth close to $9.8 million, comprising 0.7% of its total 13F portfolio. On Forward Management’s heels is Murray Stahl of Horizon Asset Management, with a $8.5 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers with similar optimism include Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital, Alex von Furstenberg and Mal Serure’s Arrow Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Seeing as Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE:FUR) has experienced declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of fund managers who sold off their positions entirely in Q4. Interestingly, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management said goodbye to the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we track, totaling about $0.6 million in stock.. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also dropped its stock, about $0.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds in Q4.
What have insiders been doing with Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE:FUR)?
Insider buying is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE:FUR) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE:FUR). These stocks are Excel Trust Inc (NYSE:EXL), Apollo Commercial Real Est. Finance Inc (NYSE:ARI), Gramercy Capital Corp. (NYSE:GKK), One Liberty Properties, Inc. (NYSE:OLP), and RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE:RAS). This group of stocks belong to the reit – diversified industry and their market caps resemble FUR’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Excel Trust Inc (NYSE:EXL) | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Apollo Commercial Real Est. Finance Inc (NYSE:ARI) | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| Gramercy Capital Corp. (NYSE:GKK) | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| One Liberty Properties, Inc. (NYSE:OLP) | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE:RAS) | 10 | 2 | 0 |
With the returns demonstrated by our studies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE:FUR) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
