Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP) was in 9 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. HPP has seen an increase in hedge fund interest recently. There were 5 hedge funds in our database with HPP holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
According to most shareholders, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, old investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the masters of this group, about 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls the majority of the smart money’s total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their best stock picks, we have formulated a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per 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 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of motivations for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors know what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action surrounding Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP).
What have hedge funds been doing with Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 80% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
Of the funds we track, Andrew Spokes’s Farallon Capital had the largest position in Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP), worth close to $266.1 million, accounting for 5.4% of its total 13F portfolio. On Farallon Capital’s heels is D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, which held a $6.5 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP) headfirst. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, created the largest position in Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP). Millennium Management had 1.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also initiated a $1.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new HPP positions are Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
What have insiders been doing with Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP). These stocks are Select Income REIT (NYSE:SIR), Government Properties Income Trust (NYSE:GOV), Parkway Properties Inc (NYSE:PKY), American Assets Trust, Inc (NYSE:AAT), and Franklin Street Properties Corp. (NYSEAMEX:FSP). All of these stocks are in the reit – office industry and their market caps are similar to HPP’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Select Income REIT (NYSE:SIR) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Government Properties Income Trust (NYSE:GOV) | 12 | 0 | 1 |
| Parkway Properties Inc (NYSE:PKY) | 11 | 2 | 0 |
| American Assets Trust, Inc (NYSE:AAT) | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Franklin Street Properties Corp. (NYSEAMEX:FSP) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
With the results exhibited by our research, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Hudson Pacific Properties Inc (NYSE:HPP) is an important part of this process.
