Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Vocera Communications Inc (VCRA) Anymore

What’s a smart Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA) investor to do?

In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of gauges shareholders can use to monitor their holdings. A pair 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 top picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as necessary, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to look at the marketplace. There are a variety of incentives for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Thus, we’re going to study the newest info surrounding Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA).

Hedge fund activity in Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA)

Heading into Q3, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -29% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Polar Capital, managed by Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley, holds the most valuable position in Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA). Polar Capital has a $12.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Polar Capital’s heels is CR Intrinsic Investors, managed by SAC Subsidiary, which held a $9.6 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Daniel Arbess’s Xerion, Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors and James E. Flynn’s Deerfield Management.

Because Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA) has faced dropping sentiment from the top-tier hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of funds that slashed their full holdings last quarter. Interestingly, Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin’s Senator Investment Group sold off the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we monitor, worth an estimated $113.6 million in stock, and Richard Driehaus of Driehaus Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $1.7 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds last quarter.

What have insiders been doing with Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA)?

Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero 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 Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA). These stocks are Comtech Telecomm. Corp. (NASDAQ:CMTL), Tellabs, Inc. (NASDAQ:TLAB), Sonus Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:SONS), Harmonic Inc (NASDAQ:HLIT), and 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT). This group of stocks belong to the communication equipment industry and their market caps are similar to VCRA’s market cap.

Using the returns shown by the previously mentioned strategies, regular investors should always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA) is no exception.

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