Is Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) a buy?
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Equally as useful, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. There are a variety of motivations for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
Now that that’s out of the way, we’re going to examine the latest info for Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC).
What does the smart money think about Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC)?
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 35 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 21% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the most valuable position in Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC). Renaissance Technologies has a $167.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Renaissance Technologies’s heels is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $115.9 million position; the fund has 0.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Peter Adam Hochfelder’s Brahman Capital, Gregg J. Powers’s Private Capital Management and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital.
As one would understandably expect, certain bigger names were breaking ground themselves. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, assembled the most outsized position in Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC). Renaissance Technologies had 167.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management also made a $115.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SYMC investors: Peter Adam Hochfelder’s Brahman Capital, Gregg J. Powers’s Private Capital Management, and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital.
Insider trading activity in Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC)
Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC). These stocks are AsiaInfo-Linkage, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASIA), Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT), Brady Corp (NYSE:BRC), Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIRE), and Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP). This group of stocks are in the security software & services industry and their market caps are similar to SYMC’s market cap.