Hedge Funds Are Betting On Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC)

Is Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) a buy here? The best stock pickers are turning bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund bets advanced by 5 lately.

To most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, old financial tools of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation today, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the top tier of this club, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the majority of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing stock picks, we have unsheathed a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).

Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the financial markets. Obviously, there are lots of motivations for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action regarding Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC).

What does the smart money think about Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 38% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital had the most valuable position in Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC), worth close to $52 million, accounting for 1.4% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $11.9 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers that hold long positions include Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management and Drew Cupps’s Cupps Capital Management.

As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers have jumped into Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) headfirst. Cupps Capital Management, managed by Drew Cupps, established the most outsized position in Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC). Cupps Capital Management had 4.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also made a $4.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new LSCC investors: John Fichthorn’s Dialectic Capital Management, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, and Mike Vranos’s Ellington.

Insider trading activity in Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC)

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC). These stocks are GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:GTAT), Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX), Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR), JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO), and Magnachip Semiconductor Corp (NYSE:MX). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – specialized industry and their market caps are closest to LSCC’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by our studies, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) is no exception.

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