After several tireless days we have finished crunching the numbers from the more than 700 13F filings issued by the elite hedge funds and other investment firms that we track at Insider Monkey, which disclosed those firms’ equity portfolios as of September 30. The results of that effort will be put on display in this article, as we share valuable insight into the smart money sentiment towards Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH).
Is Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH) worth your attention right now? The smart money is in an optimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund bets moved up by 3 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that vsh isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. VSH was in 22 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with VSH holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 6.3% year to date (through December 3rd) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 18 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Let’s review the new hedge fund action surrounding Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH).
How are hedge funds trading Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2018, a total of 22 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 16% from the second quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 17 hedge funds with a bullish position in VSH at the beginning of this year. So, let’s check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds, Royce & Associates held the most valuable stake in Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH), which was worth $135.4 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Fisher Asset Management which amassed $97.8 million worth of shares. Moreover, AQR Capital Management, Millennium Management, and Renaissance Technologies were also bullish on Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Now, key hedge funds have jumped into Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH) headfirst. Stevens Capital Management, managed by Matthew Tewksbury, established the most outsized position in Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH). Stevens Capital Management had $3.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments also made a $2.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new VSH investors: Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, and Brandon Haley’s Holocene Advisors.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH). We will take a look at Welbilt, Inc. (NYSE:WBT), FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV), Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN), and USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (NYSE:USNA). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble VSH’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| WBT | 22 | 813347 | 2 |
| FSV | 13 | 143738 | 4 |
| SUN | 7 | 16705 | -1 |
| USNA | 16 | 413764 | 0 |
| Average | 14.5 | 346889 | 1.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $347 million. That figure was $460 million in VSH’s case. Welbilt, Inc. (NYSE:WBT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard WBT might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
