Bankrate Inc (RATE): Hedge Funds Are Bearish and Insiders Are Bullish, What Should You Do?

Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE) investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently. However, today Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE) has been increased at Stifel.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of indicators shareholders can use to watch the equity markets. A duo of the
that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can trounce the market by a significant margin (see just how much).most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown

Just as key, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. Obviously, there are a number of stimuli for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the key action surrounding Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE).

How are hedge funds trading Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -44% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.

Ken Griffin CITADEL INVESTMENT GROUP

Of the funds we track, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the biggest position in Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE). Citadel Investment Group has a $43.4 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $21.4 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers that are bullish include James A. Noonan’s Pivot Point Capital, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Because Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there were a few funds who sold off their full holdings last quarter. Interestingly, Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies we watch, totaling close to $9.4 million in stock.. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also dumped its stock, about $6.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE) has experienced 2 unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE). These stocks are InterXion Holding NV (NYSE:INXN), Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY), Kayak Software Corp (NASDAQ:KYAK), Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), and OpenTable Inc (NASDAQ:OPEN). All of these stocks are in the internet information providers industry and their market caps resemble RATE’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
InterXion Holding NV (NYSE:INXN) 19 0 0
Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY) 14 0 9
Kayak Software Corp (NASDAQ:KYAK) 8 0 0
Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) 9 0 15
OpenTable Inc (NASDAQ:OPEN) 17 0 4

With the results exhibited by our research, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE) is no exception.

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