Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (EFII), Logitech International SA (USA) (LOGI): Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NICE)?

Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE) has seen an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late.

In the eyes of most market participants, hedge funds are perceived as underperforming, old financial tools of the past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the masters of this club, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls the majority of the smart money’s total asset base, and by monitoring their highest performing equity investments, we have revealed a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see all of our picks from August).

Equally as key, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. There are a number of stimuli for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if you know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a gander at the latest action regarding Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE).

Hedge fund activity in Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE)

At year’s end, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 27% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Glenhill Advisors, managed by Glenn J. Krevlin, holds the most valuable position in Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE). Glenhill Advisors has a $18.1 million position in the stock, comprising 3.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Glenhill Advisors’s heels is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $15.2 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Scott Scher & Michael Prober’s Clovis Capital Management, Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

As one would reasonably expect, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, initiated the biggest position in Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE). Millennium Management had 4.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Mark A. Nordlicht’s Platinum Management also initiated a $1.1 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new NICE position is Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE). These stocks are Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII), Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI), Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA), Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:PANL), and Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS). All of these stocks are in the computer peripherals industry and their market caps are closest to NICE’s market cap.