Hedge Funds Are Betting On ADTRAN, Inc. (ADTN)

ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest of late.

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of methods shareholders can use to track publicly traded companies. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can trounce the market by a significant margin (see just how much).

Just as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of reasons for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a gander at the recent action encompassing ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN).

How have hedgies been trading ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 57% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN). Royce & Associates has a $142.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $17.7 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Robert Pitts’s Steadfast Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Now, some big names have jumped into ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN) headfirst. Balyasny Asset Management, managed by Dmitry Balyasny, assembled the biggest call position in ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN). Balyasny Asset Management had 2.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also made a $0.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ADTN investors: Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

How are insiders trading ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN). These stocks are Arris Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRS), Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ:INFN), Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN), Loral Space & Communications Ltd. (NASDAQ:LORL), and NetGear, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTGR). This group of stocks are in the communication equipment industry and their market caps resemble ADTN’s market cap.

With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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