It seems that the masses and most of the financial media hate hedge funds and what they do, but why is this hatred of hedge funds so prominent? At the end of the day, these asset management firms do not gamble the hard-earned money of the people who are on the edge of poverty. Truth be told, most hedge fund managers and other smaller players within this industry are very smart and skilled investors. Of course, they may also make wrong bets in some instances, but no one knows what the future holds and how market participants will react to the bountiful news that floods in each day. The S&P 500 Index gained 7.6% in the 12 month-period that ended November 21, while less than 49% of its stocks beat the benchmark. In contrast, the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks among the top hedge fund investors tracked by the Insider Monkey team returned 18% over the same period, which provides evidence that these money managers do have great stock picking abilities. That’s why we believe it isn’t a waste of time to check out hedge fund sentiment before you invest in a stock like Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCRN) .

Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest of late. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with CCRN positions at the end of September. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN), Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK), and Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) to gather more data points.

When we look at the insider transactions, which are especially informative because insiders know their companies more than anyone else, we noticed a cluster of insider purchases in August when the shares were trading at $12. Those proved to be timely purchases as CCRN shares improved more than 25% over the last 4 months. We haven’t seen any purchases since then.