Hedge Funds Are Buying Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (MBT)

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT) was in 15 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. MBT investors should pay attention to an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with MBT holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

According to most traders, hedge funds are seen as slow, old investment tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the aristocrats of this club, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls the lion’s share of the smart money’s total asset base, and by monitoring their top stock picks, we have uncovered a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the 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 beaten the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).

Just as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are a number of stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you understand where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a gander at the recent action encompassing Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT).

Hedge fund activity in Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 25% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital had the largest position in Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT), worth close to $57.2 million, accounting for 0.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jane Mendillo of Harvard Management Co, with a $9.8 million position; the fund has 0.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital and Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital.

As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers have jumped into Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT) headfirst. Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, assembled the largest position in Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT). Driehaus Capital had 5.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $3.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MBT positions are Patrik Brummer’s Zenit Asset Management AB, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT). These stocks are Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC), VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP), Rogers Communications Inc. (USA) (NYSE:RCI), Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S), and TELUS Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TU). This group of stocks are in the wireless communications industry and their market caps are similar to MBT’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by our strategies, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT) is no exception.

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