Here is What Hedge Funds Think About AVG Technologies NV (AVG)

Is it smart to be bullish on AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG)?

At the moment, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to watch stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Just as crucial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of motivations for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to examine the latest info about AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG).

How are hedge funds trading AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -7% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

According to our 13F database, Ahmet Okumus’s Okumus Fund Management had the largest position in AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG), worth close to $106.2 million, accounting for 60.6% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $6.5 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management, Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Because AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG) has experienced a fall in interest from the smart money’s best and brightest, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few hedgies who were dropping their entire stakes heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Brett Hendrickson’s Nokomis Capital sold off the largest stake of the 450+ funds we track, valued at an estimated $8.7 million in stock, and John A. Levin of Levin Capital Strategies was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.7 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds heading into Q2.

How have insiders been trading AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG). These stocks are FleetMatics Group PLC (NYSE:FLTX), Lifelock Inc (NYSE:LOCK), BroadSoft Inc (NASDAQ:BSFT), PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRO), and Demandware Inc (NYSE:DWRE). This group of stocks are the members of the application software industry and their market caps are similar to AVG’s market cap.

Using the results shown by the previously mentioned tactics, regular investors must always track hedge fund and insider trading activity, and AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG) is no exception.

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