In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of metrics investors can use to analyze stocks. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can trounce the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Equally as crucial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are lots of incentives for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
Thus, it’s important to analyze the recent info for Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT).
How have hedgies been trading Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -4% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
Because Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) has experienced a fall in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedgies who sold off their full holdings at the end of the second quarter. At the top of the heap, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group dropped the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, worth close to $75.4 million in stock, and Glenn Russell Dubin of Highbridge Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $13.8 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds at the end of the second quarter.
Insider trading activity in Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT)
Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, 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 Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT). These stocks are Kid Brands Inc (NYSE:KID), Gaming Partners International Corp. (NASDAQ:GPIC), JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAKK), LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF), and Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS). This group of stocks are in the toys & games industry and their market caps are similar to MAT’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Kid Brands Inc (NYSE:KID) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Gaming Partners International Corp. (NASDAQ:GPIC) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAKK) | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF) | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) | 24 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results demonstrated by the previously mentioned tactics, regular investors should always track hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) applies perfectly to this mantra.
