Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR) was in 35 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. PWR shareholders have witnessed an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. There were 31 hedge funds in our database with PWR holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
According to most market participants, hedge funds are perceived as underperforming, old financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey look at the leaders of this group, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the majority of the smart money’s total asset base, and by watching their highest performing picks, we have figured out a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).
Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are plenty of motivations for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action encompassing Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR).
What does the smart money think about Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 35 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 13% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.
Of the funds we track, Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Donald Chiboucis, holds the most valuable position in Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR). Columbus Circle Investors has a $57.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Columbus Circle Investors’s heels is William Harnisch of Peconic Partners LLC, with a $47.6 million position; the fund has 7.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Joe DiMenna’s ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS and John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies.
Now, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, initiated the most valuable position in Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR). Arrowstreet Capital had 8.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital also made a $7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR)?
Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 15 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR). These stocks are Pike Electric Corporation (NYSE:PIKE), MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG), Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX), Emcor Group Inc (NYSE:EME), and Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI). This group of stocks belong to the general contractors industry and their market caps are similar to PWR’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Pike Electric Corporation (NYSE:PIKE) | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG) | 16 | 0 | 5 |
| Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX) | 7 | 0 | 5 |
| Emcor Group Inc (NYSE:EME) | 20 | 0 | 8 |
| Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI) | 41 | 0 | 7 |
With the results exhibited by the aforementioned research, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
