United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD) was in 13 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. UNTD investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest in recent months. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with UNTD holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
To most stock holders, hedge funds are assumed to be unimportant, outdated financial tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the moguls of this group, close to 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by monitoring their top picks, we have revealed a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outpaced the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (check out a sample of our picks).
Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a number of motivations for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors understand where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action regarding United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD).
What have hedge funds been doing with United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 30% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the most valuable position in United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD). AQR Capital Management has a $10 million position in the stock, comprising 0% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $4 million position; the fund has 0% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Consequently, some big names have jumped into United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD) headfirst. Hutchin Hill Capital, managed by Neil Chriss, initiated the most outsized position in United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD). Hutchin Hill Capital had 0 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors also made a $0 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new UNTD position is Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.
Insider trading activity in United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD). These stocks are MarineMax, Inc. (NYSE:HZO), Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ), Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS), American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:AM), and Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ:TITN). All of these stocks are in the specialty retail, other industry and their market caps resemble UNTD’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| MarineMax, Inc. (NYSE:HZO) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:AM) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ:TITN) | 12 | 0 | 2 |
With the results shown by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD) applies perfectly to this mantra.
