Hedge Funds Are Buying Pandora Media Inc (P)

Is Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) a sound investment now? Prominent investors are turning bullish. The number of long hedge fund bets rose by 9 lately.

To the average investor, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to track the equity markets. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can beat the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a look at the recent action encompassing Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P).

How have hedgies been trading Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 28 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 47% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Crosslink Capital, managed by Seymour Sy Kaufman and Michael Stark, holds the biggest position in Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P). Crosslink Capital has a $451.7 million position in the stock, comprising 41.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Crosslink Capital’s heels is Orbis Investment Management, managed by William B. Gray, which held a $73.2 million position; 0.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management, and Robert Pitts’s Steadfast Capital Management.

Consequently, key hedge funds have jumped into Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) headfirst. Orbis Investment Management, managed by William B. Gray, initiated the largest position in Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P). Orbis Investment Management had 73.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jeffrey Jon Berney’s TriOaks Capital Management also initiated a $63 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new P investors: John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management, Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital, and Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital.

Insider trading activity in Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P)

Insider buying is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 9 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P). These stocks are Entercom Communications Corp. (NYSE:ETM), Sirius XM Radio Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI), and Cumulus Media Inc (NASDAQ:CMLS). All of these stocks are in the broadcasting – radio industry and their market caps are closest to P’s market cap.