What’s a smart Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) investor to do?
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many metrics investors can use to analyze stocks. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Equally as useful, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the marketplace. There are a number of reasons for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to study the recent info surrounding Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ).
How are hedge funds trading Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ)?
Heading into Q3, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 22% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.
According to our 13F database, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the most valuable position in Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ), worth close to $38.1 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Citadel Investment Group’s heels is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $22.6 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer Management, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
As one would understandably expect, certain bigger names have been driving this bullishness. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, assembled the biggest position in Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ). Citadel Investment Group had 38.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates also made a $22.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ZUMZ investors: Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer Management, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
How are insiders trading Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ)?
Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) has experienced 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 Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ). These stocks are Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:AM), United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD), Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ:TITN), and Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS). This group of stocks are the members of the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps match ZUMZ’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:AM) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ:TITN) | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s tactics, average investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) is an important part of this process.
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