Is IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS) a buy, sell, or hold? The best stock pickers are taking a pessimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions decreased by 2 lately.
At the moment, there are a multitude of indicators market participants can use to track their holdings. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outpace the market by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Just as integral, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of incentives for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the recent action encompassing IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS).
Hedge fund activity in IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS)
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -29% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS). Royce & Associates has a $20.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Gotham Asset Management, managed by Joel Greenblatt, which held a $1 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
Because IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes last quarter. Interestingly, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies we watch, comprising an estimated $0.3 million in stock., and Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds last quarter.
What have insiders been doing with IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS). These stocks are GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:GTAT), Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Ltd (NASDAQ:AOSL), CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA), NVE Corporation (NASDAQ:NVEC), and Trina Solar Limited (ADR) (NYSE:TSL). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – specialized industry and their market caps resemble IXYS’s market cap.
