Is Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (AMTG) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Is Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG) an outstanding investment today? The best stock pickers are getting more bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund bets inched up by 6 recently.

Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG)At the moment, there are plenty of gauges market participants can use to watch their holdings. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are plenty of stimuli for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if you understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the recent action regarding Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG).

What have hedge funds been doing with Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 67% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

Of the funds we track, Pine River Capital Management, managed by Brian Taylor, holds the largest position in Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG). Pine River Capital Management has a $40.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.8% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $14.9 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Now, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Pine River Capital Management, managed by Brian Taylor, created the most valuable position in Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG). Pine River Capital Management had 40.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital also made a $8.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new AMTG investors: David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

How are insiders trading Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG). These stocks are Education Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EDR), Associated Estates Realty Corporation (NYSE:AEC), Dynex Capital Inc (NYSE:DX), Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp (NYSE:SBY), and Resource Capital Corp. (NYSE:RSO). All of these stocks are in the reit – residential industry and their market caps match AMTG’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Education Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EDR) 9 1 3
Associated Estates Realty Corporation (NYSE:AEC) 9 0 5
Dynex Capital Inc (NYSE:DX) 4 0 1
Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp (NYSE:SBY) 17 8 3
Resource Capital Corp. (NYSE:RSO) 12 0 0

With the results shown by our time-tested strategies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc (NYSE:AMTG) is no exception.

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