Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA): Hedge Funds and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was in 40 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. CMCSA investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently. There were 49 hedge funds in our database with CMCSA holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In the financial world, there are a multitude of metrics investors can use to watch the equity markets. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can outpace the market by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many incentives for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a look at the recent action regarding Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA).

What does the smart money think about Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 40 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -18% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the most valuable position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA), worth close to $451 million, accounting for 1.3% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $350 million position; 1.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Paul Ruddockáand Steve Heinz’s Lansdowne Partners, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management and Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global.

Seeing as Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has experienced a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there is a sect of hedge funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes at the end of the year. Intriguingly, Jacob Doft’s Highline Capital Management said goodbye to the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, comprising an estimated $72 million in stock.. Michael Karsch’s fund, Karsch Capital Management, also dumped its stock, about $56 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 9 funds at the end of the year.

How have insiders been trading Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 11 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by our tactics, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is an important part of this process.

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