Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (MHLD): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

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Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD) was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. MHLD shareholders have witnessed a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with MHLD holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD)

According to most market participants, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, outdated investment tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at the moment, we choose to focus on the leaders of this group, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on most of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by paying attention to their best picks, we have deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).

Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of reasons for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a glance at the latest action regarding Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD).

What does the smart money think about Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -8% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Kensico Capital, managed by Michael Lowenstein, holds the biggest position in Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD). Kensico Capital has a $48.2 million position in the stock, comprising 1.3% of its 13F portfolio. On Kensico Capital’s heels is Corsair Capital Management, managed by Jay Petschek and Steven Major, which held a $10.8 million position; the fund has 1.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Bruce Silver’s Silver Capital Management LLC, Michael Doheny’s Freshford Capital Management and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

Because Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD) has witnessed falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there were a few funds who were dropping their full holdings in Q1. Interestingly, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group cut the biggest position of the 450+ funds we track, worth close to $0.2 million in stock.. Paul Tudor Jones’s fund, Tudor Investment Corp, also cut its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds in Q1.

How are insiders trading Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHLD). These stocks are State Auto Financial (NASDAQ:STFC), The Navigators Group, Inc (NASDAQ:NAVG), Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN), Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG), and Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT). This group of stocks belong to the property & casualty insurance industry and their market caps are similar to MHLD’s market cap.

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