In the eyes of most stock holders, hedge funds are seen as slow, old financial vehicles of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we choose to focus on the top tier of this group, around 450 funds. It is estimated that this group has its hands on the majority of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tracking their best investments, we have determined a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
Now, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action regarding Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC).
What have hedge funds been doing with Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 28 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 47% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
Of the funds we track, Paulson & Co, managed by John Paulson, holds the biggest position in Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC). Paulson & Co has a $249.7 million position in the stock, comprising 1.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Paulson & Co’s heels is Mario Gabelli of GAMCO Investors, with a $156.3 million position; the fund has 1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
Consequently, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, created the most outsized position in Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC). Renaissance Technologies had 7.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Michael Doheny’s Freshford Capital Management also initiated a $7 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new CVC investors: Richard C. Patton’s Courage Capital, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Matthew Knauer and Mina Faltas’s Nokota Management.
How have insiders been trading Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC)?
Insider buying is most useful when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC). These stocks are Shaw Communications Inc (USA) (NYSE:SJR), Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ:TIVO), and AMC Networks Inc (NASDAQ:AMCX). This group of stocks are in the catv systems industry and their market caps are similar to CVC’s market cap.
