Insiders, Hedge Funds Selling Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PNW)

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (NYSE:PNW) has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest lately.

There are many indicators investors can use to analyze the equity markets, but a couple of the most underrated are hedgie and insider trading sentiment. See, at Insider Monkey, our research has shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can beat the market by a significant market (see just how much).

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (NYSE:PNW)

Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock universe. As the old adage goes: there are many reasons for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Countless academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the recent action surrounding Pinnacle West Capital.

Hedge fund activity: At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 11 hedge funds held long positions in this stock, a change of -21% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, some notable managers were upping their stakes considerably.

Israel Englander increased his stake by a whopping total of 176,240%, the largest of the funds we track. Ken Griffin and the trio of Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell were also increasing their holdings, while David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments established a new position in the stock.

All in all, David Harding held the largest position in Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (NYSE:PNW), ahead of peers Cliff Asness, the duo of Phill Gross And Robert Atchinson, and John A. Levin.

Insider trading activity: Since the beginning of 2012, the company has seen zero insider purchases and five insider sales.

The most recent insider sale came with P. David Falck’s transaction of 6,000 shares at an average price of $51.74.

With the results demonstrated by our time-tested strategies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and this time is no different.

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Disclosure: none