Hedge Funds Are Buying TE Connectivity Ltd. (TEL)

In the financial world, there are plenty of methods investors can use to watch the equity markets. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much). Just as useful, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to analyze the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here). Thus, it’s important to analyze the latest info about TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL).

What have hedge funds been doing with TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 4% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Natixis Global Asset Management’s Harris Associates had the most valuable position in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL), worth close to $1.1985 billion, accounting for 2.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Richard S. Pzena of Pzena Investment Management, with a $409.5 million position; the fund has 2.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Edgar Wachenheim’s Greenhaven Associates, Lou Simpson’s SQ Advisors and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain bigger names were breaking ground themselves. Pzena Investment Management, managed by Richard S. Pzena, initiated the biggest position in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL). Pzena Investment Management had 409.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Edgar Wachenheim’s Greenhaven Associates also initiated a $216.6 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Lou Simpson’s SQ Advisors, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC.

Insider trading activity in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL)

Insider buying made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here). We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL). These stocks are Molex Incorporated (NASDAQ:MOLX), LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL), Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH), Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW), and Kyocera Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KYO). This group of stocks belong to the diversified electronics industry and their market caps are similar to TEL’s market cap.