Is Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) worth your attention right now? The best stock pickers are becoming less hopeful. The number of bullish hedge fund positions went down by 4 recently.
In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of indicators shareholders can use to track publicly traded companies. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Just as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are many incentives for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action surrounding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
How have hedgies been trading Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 58 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -6% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the most valuable position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), worth close to $613 million, accounting for 1.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Lansdowne Partners, managed by Paul Ruddockáand Steve Heinz, which held a $483 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Tiger Global Management LLC, John Griffin’s Blue Ridge Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Since Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there were a few funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely in Q4. It’s worth mentioning that James Crichton and Adam Weiss’s Scout Capital Management sold off the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, totaling close to $89 million in stock., and George Soros of Soros Fund Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $66 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds in Q4.
How are insiders trading Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 13 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results exhibited by our studies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) applies perfectly to this mantra.
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