United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) was in 44 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. UPS investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 38 hedge funds in our database with UPS holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of gauges market participants can use to monitor stocks. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can beat the broader indices by a solid margin (see just how much).
Just as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of motivations for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors know what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the key action encompassing United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS).
What does the smart money think about United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)?
At year’s end, a total of 44 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 16% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management had the most valuable call position in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS), worth close to $466 million billion, comprising 5.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Greenhaven Associates, managed by Edgar Wachenheim, which held a $283 million position; the fund has 8.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include James Crichton and Adam Weiss’s Scout Capital Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Jason Capello’s Merchants’ Gate Capital.
Consequently, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Highfields Capital Management, managed by Jonathon Jacobson, established the most outsized call position in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS). Highfields Capital Management had 466 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. James Crichton and Adam Weiss’s Scout Capital Management also initiated a $276 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new UPS investors: Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management, Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital, and Michael Lowenstein’s Kensico Capital.
How are insiders trading United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s tactics, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) is an important part of this process.
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