Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (HIMX)

Is Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX) a splendid stock to buy now? Prominent investors are buying. The number of bullish hedge fund bets moved up by 2 in recent months.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of gauges shareholders can use to track Mr. Market. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can outpace the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are many stimuli for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the key action encompassing Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX).

How have hedgies been trading Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 29% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Gifford Combs’s Dalton Investments had the most valuable position in Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX), worth close to $56 million, accounting for 14.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $15.6 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Now, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. McKinley Capital Management, managed by Robert B. Gillam, created the most valuable position in Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX). McKinley Capital Management had 6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management also made a $0.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new HIMX positions are Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

What have insiders been doing with Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, 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 Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX). These stocks are JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO), SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), Magnachip Semiconductor Corp (NYSE:MX), Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC), and Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR). This group of stocks belong to the semiconductor – specialized industry and their market caps match HIMX’s market cap.