Zillow Inc (Z), The Advisory Board Company (ABCO): Hedge Funds Are Dumping Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO)

Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO) has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest lately.

At the moment, there are a multitude of metrics investors can use to watch stocks. Two of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can beat the market by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are a variety of incentives for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the key action encompassing Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO).

What does the smart money think about Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the most valuable position in Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO), worth close to $106 million, comprising 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is John W. Rogers of Ariel Investments, with a $74 million position; the fund has 1.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Since Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there is a sect of hedgies that decided to sell off their positions entirely heading into 2013. Interestingly, Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management dumped the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, totaling close to $1 million in stock.. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s fund, Arrowstreet Capital, also said goodbye to its stock, about $1 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How are insiders trading Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time frame, Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO). These stocks are Zillow Inc (NASDAQ:Z), The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ:ABCO), Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG), Shutterstock Inc (NYSE:SSTK), and Giant Interactive Group Inc (ADR) (NYSE:GA). This group of stocks belong to the business services industry and their market caps match FICO’s market cap.

With the returns shown by the aforementioned research, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO) is no exception.

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