QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) shareholders have witnessed an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of metrics market participants can use to analyze stocks. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can beat their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Just as key, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a number of incentives for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, let’s take a gander at the key action surrounding QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM).
What does the smart money think about QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 89 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 3% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global had the most valuable position in QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), worth close to $708 million, accounting for 4.9% of its total 13F portfolio. On Viking Global’s heels is Ken Fisher of Fisher Asset Management, with a $563 million position; the fund has 1.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital.
As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers have jumped into QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) headfirst. Standard Pacific Capital, managed by Douglas Dillard Jr. and Raj D. Venkatesan, created the biggest position in QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM). Standard Pacific Capital had 53 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also made a $52 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new Qcom positions are John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies, Michael Messner’s Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt), and Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management.
What have insiders been doing with QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)?
Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 16 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
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