Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB)?

Is Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) worth your attention right now? Hedge funds are taking a pessimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions went down by 2 recently.

In the financial world, there are many gauges market participants can use to monitor the equity markets. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can trounce the broader indices by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of incentives for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action encompassing Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB).

What have hedge funds been doing with Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -29% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Jane Mendillo’s Harvard Management Co had the largest position in Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB), worth close to $48 million, comprising 4.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is AEW Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Furber, which held a $13 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Due to the fact that Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) has experienced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of fund managers that elected to cut their full holdings heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management cut the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, comprising an estimated $1.6 million in stock.. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s fund, Two Sigma Advisors, also said goodbye to its stock, about $1.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds heading into Q2.

What have insiders been doing with Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB)?

Insider buying is most useful when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB) has seen zero 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 Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE:PEB). These stocks are LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE:LHO), Chesapeake Lodging Trust (NYSE:CHSP), Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc (NYSE:SHO), DiamondRock Hospitality Company (NYSE:DRH), and Strategic Hotels and Resorts Inc (NYSE:BEE). This group of stocks are in the reit – hotel/motel industry and their market caps are closest to PEB’s market cap.