Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI)?

To the average investor, there are many methods shareholders can use to monitor the equity markets. Two of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to look at the marketplace. Obviously, there are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

Thus, we’re going to study the newest info about NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI).

How are hedge funds trading NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 30 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -27% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the most valuable position in NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI). Citadel Investment Group has a $38.4 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Youlia Miteva of Proxima Capital Management, with a $26.3 million position; 6.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include John Murphy’s Alydar Capital, Jorge Paulo Lemann’s 3G Capital and Millennium Management Subsidiary’s Green Arrow Capital Management.

As NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) has experienced a fall in interest from the smart money’s best and brightest, logic holds that there exists a select few hedgies who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global sold off the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, totaling about $103.9 million in stock, and Dan Loeb of Third Point was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $75.7 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 11 funds heading into Q2.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI). These stocks are Freescale Semiconductor Ltd (NYSE:FSL), AU Optronics Corp. (ADR) (NYSE:AUO), Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ:MXIM), Avago Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO), and STMicroelectronics N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:STM). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – broad line industry and their market caps match NXPI’s market cap.