Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently.
In today’s marketplace, there are many metrics market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see just how much).
Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a glance at the latest action surrounding Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI).
Hedge fund activity in Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)
At year’s end, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
Of the funds we track, John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies had the largest position in Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI), worth close to $57 million, accounting for 1.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Levin Capital Strategies’s heels is Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, which held a $39 million position; 1.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.
Since Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there exists a select few hedge funds who were dropping their entire stakes heading into 2013. Interestingly, Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group cut the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we track, worth about $62 million in stock., and Nick Niell of Arrowgrass Capital Partners was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $22 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s research, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) applies perfectly to this mantra.
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