Hedge Funds Are Betting On BCE Inc. (USA) (BCE)

BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE) shareholders have witnessed an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.

To the average investor, there are plenty of metrics shareholders can use to analyze Mr. Market. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can beat the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the stock market universe. There are plenty of motivations for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action surrounding BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE).

Hedge fund activity in BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE)

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 11% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the largest position in BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE), worth close to $60.9 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Renaissance Technologies’s heels is Fairfax Financial Holdings, managed by Prem Watsa, which held a $12.5 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

Consequently, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, initiated the most outsized position in BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE). Millennium Management had 2.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors also initiated a $1.3 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new BCE position is Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

How are insiders trading BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE). These stocks are Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN), AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL), and Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:CHT). This group of stocks are in the telecom services – domestic industry and their market caps match BCE’s market cap.