Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Verint Systems Inc. (VRNT)

After several tireless days we have finished crunching the numbers from the more than 700 13F filings issued by the elite hedge funds and other investment firms that we track at Insider Monkey, which disclosed those firms’ equity portfolios as of September 30. The results of that effort will be put on display in this article, as we share valuable insight into the smart money sentiment towards Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT).

Verint Systems Inc. investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment lately. At the end of this article we will also compare VRNT to other stocks including PBF Energy Inc (NYSE:PBF), AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB), and Platform Specialty Products Corp (NYSE:PAH) to get a better sense of its popularity.

To the average investor there are a large number of signals investors employ to grade their holdings. A duo of the most under-the-radar signals are hedge fund and insider trading activity. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can trounce the market by a very impressive amount (see the details here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s go over the key action surrounding Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT).

What does the smart money think about Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT)?

Heading into Q4, a total of 36 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 9% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Blue Mountain Capital, managed by Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow, holds the number one position in Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT). Blue Mountain Capital has a $72 million position in the stock, comprising 1.3% of its 13F portfolio. On Blue Mountain Capital’s heels is Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, which holds a $58.5 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money that are bullish consist of Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital, Michael Doheny’s Freshford Capital Management and Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies.

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have jumped into Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT) headfirst. Destrier Capital, managed by Michael Pollack, initiated the most outsized position in Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT). Destrier Capital had $8.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital also initiated a $4.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT). These stocks are PBF Energy Inc (NYSE:PBF), AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB), Platform Specialty Products Corp (NYSE:PAH), and Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to VRNT’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 22 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $601 million, above the $331 million figure in VRNT’s case. Platform Specialty Products Corp (NYSE:PAH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard PAH might be a better candidate to consider a long position.