Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) was in 35 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. MSI shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund interest lately. There were 35 hedge funds in our database with MSI holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
Just as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of incentives for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a peek at the recent action surrounding Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI).
What have hedge funds been doing with Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI)?
At year’s end, a total of 35 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
Of the funds we track, Jeffrey Ubben’s ValueAct Capital had the biggest position in Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI), worth close to $1.61 billion, comprising 20.5% of its total 13F portfolio. On ValueAct Capital’s heels is Iridian Asset Management, managed by David Cohen and Harold Levy, which held a $242 million position; the fund has 4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include Jeffrey Tannenbaum’s Fir Tree, William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management and George Soros’s Soros Fund Management.
Seeing as Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) has faced falling interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few fund managers who sold off their positions entirely last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners dumped the largest position of all the hedgies we watch, comprising about $81 million in stock., and Malcolm Fairbairn of Ascend Capital was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $12 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns demonstrated by our tactics, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) is an important part of this process.
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