Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) investors should pay attention to a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late.
In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of indicators investors can use to watch their holdings. Some 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 hedge fund managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a significant margin (see just how much).
Just as important, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are lots of motivations for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the key action encompassing Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC).
What does the smart money think about Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 37 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -5% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management had the largest position in Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC), worth close to $245.8 million, accounting for 2.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Lansdowne Partners, managed by Paul Ruddock and Steve Heinz, which held a $240.8 million position; the fund has 3.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management, Larry Robbins’s Glenview Capital and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.
Seeing as Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there exists a select few funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely in Q1. Interestingly, Robert Pitts’s Steadfast Capital Management dumped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, totaling close to $103.3 million in stock.. Malcolm Fairbairn’s fund, Ascend Capital, also said goodbye to its stock, about $22.4 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds in Q1.
Insider trading activity in Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC)
Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 9 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC). These stocks are DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), Liberty Global Inc. (NASDAQ:LBTYA), Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA), DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV), and Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB). This group of stocks are the members of the catv systems industry and their market caps are similar to TWC’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) | 39 | 0 | 11 |
| Liberty Global Inc. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) | 75 | 0 | 0 |
| Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA) | 16 | 1 | 5 |
| DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) | 45 | 0 | 6 |
| Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) | 49 | 0 | 0 |
With the results shown by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) is an important part of this process.
