Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO) was in 15 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. SHOO has seen an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with SHOO positions at the end of the previous quarter.
If you’d ask most stock holders, hedge funds are seen as slow, old financial tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at the moment, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the moguls of this group, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by watching their best picks, we have unearthed a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum 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 trumped the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (explore the details and some picks here).
Equally as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of motivations for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Now, let’s take a look at the latest action regarding Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO).
Hedge fund activity in Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO)
In preparation for this year, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 15% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
According to our comprehensive database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the biggest position in Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO), worth close to $69 million, comprising 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Buckingham Capital Management, managed by David Keidan, which held a $26 million position; the fund has 2.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Robert Bishop’s Impala Asset Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management.
Now, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Scopus Asset Management, managed by Alexander Mitchell, initiated the biggest position in Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO). Scopus Asset Management had 11 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also initiated a $1 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SHOO investors: Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Mike Vranos’s Ellington, and Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital.
How are insiders trading Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 7 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 activity, and Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
Click here to learn more about Insider Monkey’s Hedge Fund Newsletter
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.
