PS Business Parks Inc (PSB): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do? – American Capital Mortgage Investment Crp (MTGE), Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN)

Is PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB) a healthy stock for your portfolio? Money managers are in an optimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund positions rose by 1 recently.

PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB)

In the financial world, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to watch the equity markets. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can beat the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. There are a number of reasons for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a peek at the latest action encompassing PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB).

Hedge fund activity in PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB)

In preparation for this year, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 9% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the largest position in PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB), worth close to $11.6 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $10.9 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

As one would reasonably expect, key money managers have jumped into PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB) headfirst. SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, created the biggest position in PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB). SAC Capital Advisors had 0.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.

How are insiders trading PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 5 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 PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB). These stocks are Lexington Realty Trust (NYSE:LXP), American Capital Mortgage Investment Crp (NASDAQ:MTGE), Spirit Realty Capital Inc (NYSE:SRC), Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN), and Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT). All of these stocks are in the reit – diversified industry and their market caps resemble PSB’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Lexington Realty Trust (NYSE:LXP) 14 0 4
American Capital Mortgage Investment Crp (NASDAQ:MTGE) 12 5 1
Spirit Realty Capital Inc (NYSE:SRC) 17 0 0
Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN) 11 0 4
Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) 9 0 0

With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s strategies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds