Here is What Hedge Funds Think About CA, Inc. (CA)

CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA) investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund sentiment lately.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of methods investors can use to monitor stocks. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can outpace the market by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a gander at the recent action surrounding CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA).

How are hedge funds trading CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -7% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.

Of the funds we track, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the most valuable position in CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA). AQR Capital Management has a $70.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $58 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers that are bullish include Gregg J. Powers’s Private Capital Management, Wojciech Uzdelewicz’s Espalier Global Management and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital.

Judging by the fact that CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA) has experienced declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of money managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes at the end of the first quarter. At the top of the heap, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies said goodbye to the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, valued at about $15.5 million in stock., and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $12.5 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds at the end of the first quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to CA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CA). These stocks are Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV), Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT), Workday Inc (NYSE:WDAY), and Catamaran Corp (USA) (NASDAQ:CTRX). This group of stocks are in the application software industry and their market caps are similar to CA’s market cap.