Is DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN) a good investment?
To the average investor, there are tons of indicators investors can use to analyze stocks. Two of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can beat the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Just as crucial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s study the latest info about DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN).
What does the smart money think about DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -5% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, Glenn Fuhrman and John Phelan’s MSD Capital had the largest position in DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN), worth close to $162 million, comprising 28.8% of its total 13F portfolio. On MSD Capital’s heels is Mason Hawkins of Southeastern Asset Management, with a $94 million position; the fund has 0.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include James Crichton and Adam Weiss’s Scout Capital Management, Christopher R. Hansen’s Valiant Capital and Frank Brosens’s Taconic Capital.
Since DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money’s best and brightest, we can see that there were a few money managers who were dropping their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, John Bader’s Halcyon Asset Management said goodbye to the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we monitor, totaling about $38.8 million in stock. Richard Chilton’s fund, Chilton Investment Company, also dropped its stock, about $32 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds last quarter.
What have insiders been doing with DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN)?
Insider buying is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to DineEquity Inc (NYSE:DIN). These stocks are Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD), Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK), Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE), Texas Roadhouse Inc (NASDAQ:TXRH), and Papa John’s Int’l, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA). This group of stocks belong to the restaurants industry and their market caps resemble DIN’s market cap.