In the financial world, there are dozens of gauges market participants can use to track the equity markets. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).
Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are many reasons for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a look at the recent action regarding Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS).
What does the smart money think about Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS)?
At year’s end, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 56% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
Of the funds we track, Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management had the largest position in Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS), worth close to $25 million, accounting for 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $3 million position; 0% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds have jumped into Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) headfirst. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, initiated the most valuable position in Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS). Renaissance Technologies had 1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also made a $0 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new HHS positions are Charles Davidson’s Wexford Capital, Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital, and Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Kroch’s GRT Capital Partners.
How are insiders trading Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time frame, Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS). These stocks are Valassis Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCI), National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI), Constant Contact Inc (NASDAQ:CTCT), MDC Partners Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:MDCA), and Millennial Media, Inc. (NYSE:MM). This group of stocks belong to the marketing services industry and their market caps resemble HHS’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Valassis Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCI) | 19 | 0 | 6 |
| National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Constant Contact Inc (NASDAQ:CTCT) | 8 | 2 | 1 |
| MDC Partners Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:MDCA) | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| Millennial Media, Inc. (NYSE:MM) | 14 | 0 | 25 |
With the returns exhibited by Insider Monkey’s tactics, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) is no exception.
