To many of your fellow readers, hedge funds are perceived as useless, outdated financial vehicles of an era lost to time. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds in operation currently, Insider Monkey focuses on the top tier of this club, about 525 funds. It is assumed that this group controls the majority of all hedge funds’ total assets, and by tracking their best picks, we’ve come up with a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year 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 outclassed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (explore the details and some picks here).
Equally as key, bullish insider trading activity is another way to analyze the stock market universe. There are a number of incentives for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).
Thus, it’s important to analyze the latest info surrounding Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX).
What have hedge funds been doing with Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 9% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, Eminence Capital, managed by Ricky Sandler, holds the biggest position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX). Eminence Capital has a $59.3 million position in the stock, comprising 1.5% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $40.1 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include David Harding’s Winton Capital Management, Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital.
Now, particular hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Eminence Capital, managed by Ricky Sandler, initiated the largest position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX). Eminence Capital had 59.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management also made a $40.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new EFX positions are David Harding’s Winton Capital Management, Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners, and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital.
How have insiders been trading Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)?
Insider buying is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 11 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX). These stocks are Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ:CACC), ORIX Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:IX), SLM Corp (NASDAQ:SLM), CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), and The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU). This group of stocks are the members of the credit services industry and their market caps match EFX’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ:CACC) | 17 | 0 | 7 |
| ORIX Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:IX) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| SLM Corp (NASDAQ:SLM) | 32 | 0 | 5 |
| CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT) | 39 | 0 | 0 |
| The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) | 32 | 1 | 0 |
Using the results shown by the previously mentioned strategies, average investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) is an important part of this process.
