Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (TSM)

Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM) has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.

To the average investor, there are many methods shareholders can use to analyze stocks. A couple of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as important, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of motivations for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, let’s take a look at the key action regarding Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM).

Hedge fund activity in Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM)

At Q1’s end, a total of 21 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -22% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, holds the most valuable position in Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM). Fisher Asset Management has a $581.3 million position in the stock, comprising 1.5% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $339.6 million position; the fund has 0.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners.

Since Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM) has faced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of funds who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q2. Intriguingly, Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management dropped the biggest position of all the hedgies we watch, valued at an estimated $3.6 million in stock.. Wojciech Uzdelewicz’s fund, Espalier Global Management, also dropped its stock, about $2.7 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 6 funds heading into Q2.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time frame, Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM). These stocks are Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL), Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX), Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI), and Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – integrated circuits industry and their market caps are similar to TSM’s market cap.