Blackberry Ltd (BBRY): 33% Spike in Smart Money Ownership

What have hedge funds been doing with Blackberry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)?

At Q4’s end, a total of 24 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a 33% rise from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably (or had already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Fairfax Financial Holdings, managed by Prem Watsa, holds the biggest position in Blackberry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY). Fairfax Financial Holdings has a $433.3 million position in the stock, comprising 35.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Renaissance Technologies, led by Jim Simons, holding a $122.4 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other professional money managers that are bullish comprise Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and Irving Kahn’s Kahn Brothers.

Consequently, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Sabal Capital Management, managed by William Charters and Mario Marcon, initiated the most outsized position in Blackberry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY). Sabal Capital Management had $5.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also initiated a $2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new BBRY positions are Larry Petrella and Michael Siminerio’s PineView Asset Management, Neal Shah’s Valtura Capital Partners, and George Hall’s Clinton Group.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Blackberry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) but similarly valued. These stocks are Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX), Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI), Envision Healthcare Holdings Inc (NYSE:EVHC), and Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to BBRY’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 26 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $580 million. That figure was $786 million in BBRY’s case. Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Blackberry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average, although the total amount of capital invested in the stock is above average. Given that it was the only stock on the list to see a very positive influx of smart money ownership, it may be worth considering a long position in the company.