Hedge Funds Are Selling Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS)

Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.

If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, old financial tools of the past. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open at the moment, we hone in on the leaders of this club, close to 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the majority of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing investments, we have unsheathed a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outpaced the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (check out a sample of our picks).

Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS)

Just as important, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the stock market universe. There are plenty of motivations for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the key action encompassing Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS).

What have hedge funds been doing with Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the biggest position in Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS). Renaissance Technologies has a $107 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. On Renaissance Technologies’s heels is Omega Advisors, managed by Leon Cooperman, which held a $84 million position; the fund has 1.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Matthew Iorio’s White Elm Capital, Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital and John Kleinheinz’s Kleinheinz Capital Partners.

Due to the fact that Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS) has faced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there were a few hedgies that decided to sell off their entire stakes at the end of the year. Intriguingly, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors dropped the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds we track, comprising an estimated $6 million in stock., and Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What have insiders been doing with Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS) has experienced 2 unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ:ASPS) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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Insider Monkey’s small-cap strategy returned 29.2% between September 2012 and February 2013 versus 8.7% for the S&P 500 index. Try it now by clicking the link above.