Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (ABV)

Is Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV) the right pick for your portfolio? The best stock pickers are in a bullish mood. The number of long hedge fund bets inched up by 2 lately.

At the moment, there are a multitude of gauges shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. A duo of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).

Just as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the recent action surrounding Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV).

Hedge fund activity in Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 11% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the largest position in Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV), worth close to $390.6 million, comprising 1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $150.6 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, William von Mueffling’s Cantillon Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, established the most valuable position in Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV). Millennium Management had 38.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. SAC Subsidiary’s CR Intrinsic Investors also initiated a $6.4 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ABV investors: SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

What have insiders been doing with Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV). These stocks are Boston Beer Co Inc (NYSE:SAM), Compania Cervecerias Unidas S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:CCU), Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP), Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB (ADR) (NYSE:FMX), and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD). All of these stocks are in the beverages – brewers industry and their market caps are closest to ABV’s market cap.

With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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