Is Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN) a great stock to buy now? The best stock pickers are in a bearish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience
Just as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
Now, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action regarding Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN).
How have hedgies been trading Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management had the largest position in Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN), worth close to $12 million, accounting for 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Jeffrey Smith of Starboard Value LP, with a $10 million position; the fund has 1.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
Because Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few funds who were dropping their positions entirely heading into 2013. At the top of the heap, Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich’s Scopia Capital said goodbye to the biggest stake of all the hedgies we monitor, worth close to $10 million in stock.. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also cut its stock, about $0 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN). These stocks are COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR), EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENOC), Performant Financial Corp (NASDAQ:PFMT), Envestnet Inc (NYSE:ENV), and Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI). This group of stocks belong to the business services industry and their market caps resemble WBSN’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) | 12 | 0 | 1 |
| EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENOC) | 12 | 0 | 5 |
| Performant Financial Corp (NASDAQ:PFMT) | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Envestnet Inc (NYSE:ENV) | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
With the results demonstrated by our strategies, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Websense Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN) applies perfectly to this mantra.
