Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) has seen one of the biggest increases in the following metric of any company we track. To say this data is bullish would be an understatement.
In today’s marketplace, there are plenty of gauges market participants can use to watch Mr. Market. A duo of the best 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 best money managers can trounce the market by a solid amount (see just how much).
Equally as useful, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are a number of reasons for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
What’s more, it’s important to analyze the newest info about Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN).
What have hedge funds been doing with Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN)?
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 36 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 44% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, JANA Partners, managed by Barry Rosenstein, holds the biggest position in Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN). JANA Partners has a $299.9 million position in the stock, comprising 4.2% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Tiger Global Management LLC, managed by Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan, which held a $153.9 million position; 2.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Capital Management, John Lykouretzos’s Hoplite Capital Management and Panayotis Takis Sparaggis’s Alkeon Capital Management.
With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain money managers were breaking ground themselves. JANA Partners, managed by Barry Rosenstein, created the biggest position in Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN). JANA Partners had 299.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC also made a $153.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new GRPN positions are Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Capital Management, John Lykouretzos’s Hoplite Capital Management, and Panayotis Takis Sparaggis’s Alkeon Capital Management.
How are insiders trading Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN)?
Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN). These stocks are Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY), Youku Tudou Inc (ADR) (NYSE:YOKU), AOL, Inc. (NYSE:AOL), and IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI). This group of stocks are the members of the internet information providers industry and their market caps are similar to GRPN’s market cap.