Sector Spdr Trust Sbi (XLI): Hedge Funds Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Sector Spdr Trust Sbi (NYSEARCA:XLI) was in 14 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. XLI has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment of late. There were 18 hedge funds in our database with XLI holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In today’s marketplace, there are many metrics investors can use to monitor Mr. Market. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of incentives for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action surrounding Sector Spdr Trust Sbi (NYSEARCA:XLI).

What does the smart money think about Sector Spdr Trust Sbi (NYSEARCA:XLI)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -22% from the first quarter.

Because Sector Spdr Trust Sbi (NYSEARCA:XLI) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there was a specific group of funds that slashed their entire stakes last quarter. Interestingly, Michael A. Price and Amos Meron’s Empyrean Capital Partners dumped the largest stake of all the hedgies we watch, totaling about $18.1 million in stock., and Brian Taylor of Pine River Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $5.7 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Sector Spdr Trust Sbi (NYSEARCA:XLI)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Sector Spdr Trust Sbi (NYSEARCA:XLI) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned tactics, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Sector Spdr Trust Sbi (NYSEARCA:XLI) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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