Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (ABV)

Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV) was in 16 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. ABV investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with ABV holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In the financial world, there are dozens of gauges investors can use to analyze stocks. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can beat the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the stock market universe. There are a number of incentives for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action surrounding Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV).

How have hedgies been trading Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -16% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the largest position in Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV), worth close to $369.6 million, accounting for 1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, which held a $108 million position; the fund has 0.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, William von Mueffling’s Cantillon Capital Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Since Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few hedge funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely last quarter. Intriguingly, James Crichton and Adam Weiss’s Scout Capital Management dropped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we track, worth an estimated $57.8 million in call options. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also dropped its stock, about $2.1 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV)?

Bullish insider trading is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV). These stocks are Boston Beer Co Inc (NYSE:SAM), Compania Cervecerias Unidas S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:CCU), Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP), Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB (ADR) (NYSE:FMX), and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD). This group of stocks are the members of the beverages – brewers industry and their market caps match ABV’s market cap.

With the returns shown by our time-tested strategies, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ADR) (NYSE:ABV) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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