Is Mentor Graphics Corp (NASDAQ:MENT) a good investment?
In today’s marketplace, there are plenty of indicators investors can use to monitor the equity markets. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can trounce the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Just as key, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the financial markets. There are lots of stimuli for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).
Furthermore, let’s examine the recent info for Mentor Graphics Corp (NASDAQ:MENT).
How have hedgies been trading Mentor Graphics Corp (NASDAQ:MENT)?
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -11% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.
According to our 13F database, Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP had the biggest position in Mentor Graphics Corp (NASDAQ:MENT), worth close to $315.2 million, comprising 1.5% of its total 13F portfolio. On Icahn Capital LP’s heels is Gregg J. Powers of Private Capital Management, with a $39.4 million position; 3.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management and Andrew Sandler’s Sandler Capital Management.
As Mentor Graphics Corp (NASDAQ:MENT) has experienced a fall in interest from the top-tier hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedgies that slashed their entire stakes at the end of the second quarter. At the top of the heap, Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management cut the largest position of the 450+ funds we watch, valued at about $3.5 million in stock, and Neil Chriss of Hutchin Hill Capital was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $3.1 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds at the end of the second quarter.
How are insiders trading Mentor Graphics Corp (NASDAQ:MENT)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Mentor Graphics Corp (NASDAQ:MENT) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Mentor Graphics Corp (NASDAQ:MENT). These stocks are National Instruments Corp (NASDAQ:NATI), Concur Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNQR), PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PMTC), Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:TYL), and ACI Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:ACIW). This group of stocks belong to the technical & system software industry and their market caps are similar to MENT’s market cap.