Hedge Funds Are Selling CommVault Systems, Inc. (CVLT)

Is CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT) undervalued? Money managers are in a pessimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund positions retreated by 1 lately.

In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of gauges investors can use to analyze stocks. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can outperform the market by a superb amount (see just how much).

Just as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many incentives for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, we’re going to take a gander at the key action encompassing CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT).

What does the smart money think about CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -6% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Donald Chiboucis, holds the biggest position in CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT). Columbus Circle Investors has a $127.8 million position in the stock, comprising 1% of its 13F portfolio. On Columbus Circle Investors’s heels is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $57.7 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Drew Cupps’s Cupps Capital Management and Alex Sacerdote ‘s Whale Rock Capital Management.

Since CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT) has experienced a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there exists a select few funds that elected to cut their entire stakes at the end of the first quarter. Intriguingly, Andrew Sandler’s Sandler Capital Management sold off the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, comprising about $14.8 million in stock., and Wojciech Uzdelewicz of Espalier Global Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $8.8 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds at the end of the first quarter.

What have insiders been doing with CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT). These stocks are Msci Inc (NYSE:MSCI), MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS), Splunk Inc (NASDAQ:SPLK), Cadence Design Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CDNS), and Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT). This group of stocks are in the application software industry and their market caps resemble CVLT’s market cap.

With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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