Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (AMG): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It But Hedge Funds Love It

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What’s a smart Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG) investor to do?

In the eyes of many investors, hedge funds are assumed to be overrated, outdated investment tools of a period lost to current times. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds in operation today, Insider Monkey looks at the top tier of this group, close to 525 funds. It is widely held that this group has its hands on the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by monitoring their highest quality stock picks, we’ve unearthed a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started 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 useful, bullish insider trading activity is another way to look at the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are many stimuli for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s discuss the recent info for Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG).

What does the smart money think about Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 33% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG)When using filings from the hedgies we track, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the biggest position in Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG), worth close to $201.3 million, comprising 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $137.3 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, David Harding’s Winton Capital Management and James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management.

As industrywide interest increased, certain money managers have been driving this bullishness. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, established the largest position in Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG). Citadel Investment Group had 201.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates also initiated a $137.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AMG positions are Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, David Harding’s Winton Capital Management, and James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management.

What have insiders been doing with Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG). These stocks are Eaton Vance Corp (NYSE:EV), Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ), Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG), Oaktree Capital Group LLC (NYSE:OAK), and Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ:CG). This group of stocks are in the asset management industry and their market caps match AMG’s market cap.

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