Is J&J Snack Foods Corp. (JJSF) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Is it smart to be bullish on J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF)?

Now, according to many of your peers, hedge funds are assumed to be overrated, outdated financial tools of a forgotten age. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds in operation in present day, this site looks at the aristocrats of this club, around 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group controls most of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by tracking their highest quality picks, we’ve determined a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually 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 outclassed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).

Just as crucial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the marketplace. Obviously, there are a variety of motivations for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

What’s more, we’re going to discuss the newest info surrounding J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF).

J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF)

Hedge fund activity in J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF)

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 30% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the largest position in J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF), worth close to $48.5 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is Third Avenue Management, managed by Martin Whitman, which held a $20.6 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.

As one would understandably expect, particular hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, established the most outsized position in J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF). Royce & Associates had 48.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management also initiated a $20.6 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new JJSF positions are Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.

How are insiders trading J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF). These stocks are The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), Gruma S.A.B. de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE:GMK), TreeHouse Foods Inc. (NYSE:THS), Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE), and B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS). This group of stocks belong to the processed & packaged goods industry and their market caps resemble JJSF’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN) 18 0 0
Gruma S.A.B. de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE:GMK) 0 0
TreeHouse Foods Inc. (NYSE:THS) 15 0 0
Snyder S Lance Inc (NASDAQ:LNCE) 7 0 0
B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS) 10 0 0

Using the results explained by our research, regular investors should always track hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) is an important part of this process.

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