Equity One, Inc. (EQY): Insiders Are Buying, Should You?

Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.

In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, outdated financial vehicles of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open today, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the masters of this group, close to 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees most of the smart money’s total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing picks, we have determined a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped 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 outperformed the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see all of our picks from August).

CITADEL INVESTMENT GROUP

Just as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are many incentives for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a gander at the key action encompassing Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY).

What have hedge funds been doing with Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -14% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the most valuable position in Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY). Citadel Investment Group has a $3.4 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which held a $2 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Thomas Bailard’s Bailard Inc.

Seeing as Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers that elected to cut their full holdings at the end of the year. At the top of the heap, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies we watch, valued at an estimated $1.8 million in stock., and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $0.6 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds at the end of the year.

What have insiders been doing with Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 4 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 Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY). These stocks are Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI), CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL), Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE:HPT), Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE:SKT), and EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR). This group of stocks are in the reit – retail industry and their market caps resemble EQY’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) 12 0 1
CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL) 9 3 3
Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE:HPT) 9 1 1
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE:SKT) 9 1 7
EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) 9 0 3

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY) is an important part of this process.

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