A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC).
Is AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) a good stock to buy now? Prominent investors are in a bullish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund positions that are disclosed in regulatory 13F filings moved up by 3 recently. AUDC was in 7 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2016. There were 4 hedge funds in our database with AUDC holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare AUDC to other stocks including Arctic Cat Inc (NASDAQ:ACAT), Abeona Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ABEO), and Agile Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AGRX) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Audiocodes Ltd (NASDAQ:AUDC)
Follow Audiocodes Ltd (NASDAQ:AUDC)
We care about hedge fund sentiment because historically hedge funds’ stock picks delivered strong risk adjusted returns. There are certain segments of the market where hedge funds’ stock picks performed much better than its benchmarks. For instance, the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks among the best performing hedge funds returned 18% over the last 12 months outpacing S&P 500 Index by more than 10 percentage points. We developed this strategy 2.5 years ago and started sharing its picks in our quarterly newsletter. It bested the S&P 500 Index ETFs by delivering a solid 39% vs. 22% gain for its benchmarks.
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What does the smart money think about AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 7 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a 75% jump from one quarter earlier, pushing the number of bullish hedge fund positions to a yearly high. So, let’s review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Richard Mashaal’s RIMA Senvest Management has the largest position in AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC), worth close to $16 million, comprising 1.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Benjamin A. Smith of Laurion Capital Management, with a $1.4 million position. Other professional money managers with similar optimism comprise Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management, Renaissance Technologies, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, and George Soros’ Soros Fund Management. We should note that Soros Fund Management is among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-micro-cap stocks.
As one would reasonably expect, key money managers have jumped into AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) headfirst. Laurion Capital Management created the most outsized position in AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC). McKinley Capital Management also initiated a $1.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Peter Muller’s PDT Partners.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Arctic Cat Inc (NASDAQ:ACAT), Abeona Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ABEO), Agile Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AGRX), and Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to AUDC’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACAT | 6 | 13728 | 0 |
| ABEO | 13 | 39758 | 4 |
| AGRX | 9 | 43289 | 1 |
| HOS | 14 | 78226 | -1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $44 million. That figure was $21 million in AUDC’s case. Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Arctic Cat Inc (NASDAQ:ACAT) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard HOS might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.
Disclosure: None
