Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (ATNI)?

Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI) was in 8 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. ATNI has experienced a decrease in hedge fund interest lately. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with ATNI holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are plenty of indicators investors can use to analyze Mr. Market. Two of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as important, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of incentives for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the recent action surrounding Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI).

How are hedge funds trading Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -20% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

Of the funds we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI). Royce & Associates has a $13.8 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $7 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors.

Because Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI) has witnessed bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of money managers that slashed their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. At the top of the heap, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group said goodbye to the largest position of the 450+ funds we key on, valued at close to $0.7 million in stock.. Andy Redleaf’s fund, Whitebox Advisors, also cut its stock, about $0.5 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds at the end of the first quarter.

Insider trading activity in Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI)

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI). These stocks are magicJack VocalTec Ltd (NASDAQ:CALL), Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (NASDAQ:SHEN), EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELNK), Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE:CBB), and Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNSL). This group of stocks are in the telecom services – domestic industry and their market caps match ATNI’s market cap.

With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s research, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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