Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. PKE investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with PKE positions at the end of the previous quarter.
Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of incentives for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if you know what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a gander at the recent action regarding Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE).
How have hedgies been trading Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -14% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE). Royce & Associates has a $76.4 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, which held a $15.9 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
Seeing as Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) has faced falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of funds that elected to cut their full holdings in Q1. Interestingly, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management sold off the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds we track, comprising close to $0.4 million in stock. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds in Q1.
How are insiders trading Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE). These stocks are Kimball International (NASDAQ:KBALB), Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE), Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS), Multi-Fineline Electronix, Inc. (NASDAQ:MFLX), and TTM Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTMI). This group of stocks are the members of the printed circuit boards industry and their market caps resemble PKE’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Kimball International (NASDAQ:KBALB) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE) | 15 | 0 | 5 |
| Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| Multi-Fineline Electronix, Inc. (NASDAQ:MFLX) | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| TTM Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTMI) | 14 | 0 | 5 |
With the results shown by our time-tested strategies, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
