Five Cheap Public Utilities Stocks Hedge Funds Like

#3. ShoreTel Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOR)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 21

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $140.24 Million

ShoreTel Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOR) lost some charm among the hedge funds monitored by Insider Monkey in the first quarter of 2016, as the number of funds invested in the company fell to 21 from 24 quarter-over-quarter. Similarly, the overall value of those funds’ equity investments in ShoreTel decreased by 18% sequentially to $140.24 million, mainly due to a 16% drop in the share price of ShoreTel stock. The 21 hedge fund vehicles invested in the provider of business communications solutions amassed 28% of its total number of outstanding shares. ShoreTel reported total revenue of $265.69 million for the nine months that ended March 31, slightly up from $265.50 million reported for the same period of the previous year. The telecommunications products specialist anticipates a top line in the range of $88 million-to-$94 million for the current quarter, below analysts’ expectations of $96.2 million. ShoreTel shares are down 28% year-to-date. Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management was the owner of 6.49 million shares of ShoreTel Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOR) at the end of March.

#2. Frontier Communications Corp (NASDAQ:FTR)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 27

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $302.74 Million

The so-called smart money sentiment towards Frontier Communications Corp (NASDAQ:FTR) declined during the first three months of 2016, with the number of money managers from our database with stakes in the company dropping to 27 from 31 quarter-over-quarter. Meanwhile, the dollar value of all those stakes fell by nearly 12% sequentially to $302.74 million even though Frontier shares gained 22% during the first quarter. Almost 5% of the company’s outstanding common stock was hoarded up by the 27 hedge funds followed by Insider Monkey. The U.S. provider of voice, data, and video services currently has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, after seeing its shares gain 6% since the beginning of the year. Frontier Communications, which focuses on providing services to rural areas, as well as small and medium-sized towns and cities, pays out a quarterly cash dividend of $0.105, which equates to an impressive annual dividend yield of 8.42%. D.E. Shaw & Co. L.P., founded by David E. Shaw, owns 4.28 million shares of Frontier Communications Corp (NASDAQ:FTR) as of March 31.

#1. Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE:VG)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 30

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $94.44 Million

Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE:VG) was what could be called a hedge fund darling in the January-March period, as the number of money managers from our system with equity investments in the company spiked to 30 from 23 quarter-on-quarter. However, the overall value of those investments dropped 12% quarter-over-quarter to $94.44 million, as the stock slid 20% during the three-month period. The 30 asset managers invested in Vonage stockpiled 10% of the company’s outstanding shares. Earlier this month, the provider of cloud communications services completed its previously-announced $230 million-acquisition of privately-held Nexmo Inc., a pioneer in the communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) segment of the cloud communications market. The acquisition is set to accelerate Vonage’s speed of growth, as well as strengthen its position in the cloud communications market. Shares of Vonage Holdings have lost 17% of their value since the beginning of the year and trade significantly below the IPO price of $17.00 a share. William C. Martin’s Raging Capital Management added a 1.45 million-share position in Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE:VG) to its portfolio during the first quarter of the year.

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