To the average investor, there are a multitude of metrics shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. A duo of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a superb margin (see just how much).
Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are lots of motivations for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a look at the key action surrounding The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV).
What have hedge funds been doing with The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -33% from one quarter earlier.
Judging by the fact that The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV) has experienced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there were a few hedgies who were dropping their positions entirely last quarter. Intriguingly, Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management cut the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we key on, valued at an estimated $1.6 million in stock., and John Fichthorn of Dialectic Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $1.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds last quarter.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV)?
Insider buying is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time frame, The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV). These stocks are Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOLE), Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM), Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFM), Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST), and Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC). This group of stocks are in the food – major diversified industry and their market caps match WWAV’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOLE) | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) | 9 | 0 | 1 |
| Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFM) | 12 | 0 | 3 |
| Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
With the results shown by our tactics, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and The WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV) is no exception.
