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

Is Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV) a healthy stock for your portfolio? The smart money is becoming less hopeful. The number of bullish hedge fund positions fell by 4 recently.

To the average investor, there are plenty of indicators investors can use to watch the equity markets. 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 best picks of the best investment managers can beat the market by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are many stimuli for an insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

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

Hedge fund activity in Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -20% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Glenn Greenberg’s Brave Warrior Capital had the largest position in Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV), worth close to $126.4 million, accounting for 6.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Eminence Capital, managed by Ricky Sandler, which held a $118.5 million position; the fund has 3.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish include John Armitage’s Egerton Capital Limited, Lou Simpson’s SQ Advisors and Greg Poole’s Echo Street Capital Management.

Judging by the fact that Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there were a few fund managers who were dropping their entire stakes heading into Q2. Interestingly, Steven Richman’s East Side Capital (RR Partners) dumped the largest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, comprising about $70.8 million in stock.. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also cut its stock, about $4.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds heading into Q2.

Insider trading activity in Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV)

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV). These stocks are FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FLT), Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE:ADS), Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK), Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO), and Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE:FIS). This group of stocks belong to the business services industry and their market caps are closest to FISV’s market cap.