Coinstar, Inc. (CSTR)’s Crucial Data: Here’s What You Need To Know

Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR) has seen a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.

In the eyes of most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, outdated investment tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open today, we hone in on the upper echelon of this group, close to 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group oversees most of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by tracking their top equity investments, we have found a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a 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 outperformed the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (check out a sample of our picks).

Just as key, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the financial markets. Obviously, there are many stimuli for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you know what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a gander at the recent action encompassing Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR).

How are hedge funds trading Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 28 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -3% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Debra Fine’s Fine Capital Partners had the most valuable position in Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR), worth close to $89.1 million, accounting for 9% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Marathon Partners, managed by Mario Cibelli, which held a $50.7 million position; the fund has 32.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Wallace Weitz’s Wallace R. Weitz & Co. and John C. Walker’s Stonerise Capital Management.

Since Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR) has experienced a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedgies that decided to sell off their full holdings in Q4. At the top of the heap, John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management said goodbye to the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds we track, valued at close to $29.4 million in stock., and Frank LaGrange Johnson of LaGrange Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $7.8 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds in Q4.

Insider trading activity in Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR). These stocks are Office Depot Inc (NYSE:ODP), EZCORP Inc (NASDAQ:EZPW), Francesca’s Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FRAN), Five Below Inc (NASDAQ:FIVE), and Vitamin Shoppe Inc (NYSE:VSI). This group of stocks are the members of the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps are closest to CSTR’s market cap.