Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY) was in 25 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. AUY investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months. There were 25 hedge funds in our database with AUY holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
To most market participants, hedge funds are perceived as slow, old financial tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation at present, we choose to focus on the moguls of this club, close to 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on most of the smart money’s total capital, and by watching their top picks, we have found a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per 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 outperformed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).
Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of stimuli for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if investors know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action regarding Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY).
How have hedgies been trading Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Passport Capital, managed by John Burbank, holds the largest position in Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY). Passport Capital has a $35 million position in the stock, comprising 1.4% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Vinik Asset Management, managed by Jeffrey Vinik, which held a $29.2 million position; 0.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors and David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management.
Since Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY) has faced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there was a specific group of money managers that decided to sell off their full holdings heading into Q2. Intriguingly, Robert Pitts’s Steadfast Capital Management dumped the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we monitor, totaling about $10.9 million in call options, and Matthew Tewksbury of Stevens Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $6.2 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How have insiders been trading Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY)?
Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY). These stocks are Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (USA) (NYSE:AEM), Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (ADR) (NYSE:BVN), Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:GOLD), AngloGold Ashanti Limited (ADR) (NYSE:AU), and Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC). This group of stocks are in the gold industry and their market caps are similar to AUY’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (USA) (NYSE:AEM) | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (ADR) (NYSE:BVN) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:GOLD) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| AngloGold Ashanti Limited (ADR) (NYSE:AU) | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC) | 27 | 0 | 0 |
With the results exhibited by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AUY) is no exception.
