Monster Worldwide, Inc. (MWW): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

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

Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW)At the moment, there are dozens of gauges investors can use to watch Mr. Market. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can outclass the market by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are lots of stimuli for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action surrounding Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW).

How are hedge funds trading Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -19% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

Of the funds we track, Pzena Investment Management, managed by Richard S. Pzena, holds the largest position in Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW). Pzena Investment Management has a $18.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is PEAK6 Capital Management, managed by Matthew Hulsizer, which held a $10.1 million call position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

Because Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW) has witnessed falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there exists a select few hedgies who were dropping their positions entirely heading into Q2. Interestingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital dropped the biggest investment of all the hedgies we track, worth close to $2.5 million in stock.. Mark N. Diker’s fund, Diker Management, also sold off its call options., about $1.4 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds heading into Q2.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW). These stocks are Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR), Focus Media Holding Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:FMCN), VisionChina Media Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VISN), and ReachLocal Inc. (NASDAQ:RLOC). This group of stocks belong to the advertising agencies industry and their market caps are closest to MWW’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR) 47 0 7
Focus Media Holding Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:FMCN) 26 0 0
VisionChina Media Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VISN) 4 0 0
ReachLocal Inc. (NASDAQ:RLOC) 5 0 10

With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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