Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH) was in 5 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. OSH has seen a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with OSH holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
Just as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of stimuli for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the key action surrounding Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH).
How are hedge funds trading Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -17% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.
Of the funds we track, Edward Lampert’s ESL Investments had the biggest position in Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH), worth close to $4.1 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On ESL Investments’s heels is Bruce Berkowitz of Fairholme (FAIRX), with a $2.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Francis Chou’s Chou Associates Management and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.
Since Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there were a few money managers who were dropping their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Intriguingly, Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management cut the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, comprising close to $0.6 million in stock. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds at the end of the first quarter.
How are insiders trading Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH). These stocks are The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD), Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW), Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL), , and Builders FirstSource, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLDR). This group of stocks are the members of the home improvement stores industry and their market caps are similar to OSH’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) | 50 | 0 | 0 |
| Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) | 55 | 0 | 11 |
| Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL) | 13 | 0 | 8 |
| Builders FirstSource, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLDR) | 14 | 0 | 3 |
With the results exhibited by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp (NASDAQ:OSH) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
