Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Short-Sellers Are Making Moves

In the financial blogosphere, there are plenty of indicators for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) readers to keep an eye on, but it is smart to be aware of a company’s short interest. A couple indicators typically used are: (a) the percentage of a company’s tradable shares that the shorts are presently short selling, in addition to (b) the difference in short selling activity.

More short selling usually indicates what you’d think: investors have grown less bullish on the stock. Overselling, though, sometimes has a positive effect on stock price, as short sellers can be forced to buy their stock.

Here at Insider Monkey, it is not a secret that we pay attention to the smart money’s interest, but it is eqaully as crucial to group this information with overall short interest information. A few, large investors may share that they’re bearish on a stock, but it is not an SEC requirement. Nonetheless, many individual investors might wish to stay away from heavily short sold equities with above-average hedgie investment, while others might desire short-squeeze plays. For those looking for a time-tested piggybacking strategy, discover the details of our premium strategy.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the latest data swirling around Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Looking at the newest FINRA data, which is released twice a month, we can realize that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a short interest of 1.20% of float, down slightly from the previous filing. With a float of 8.01B shares, this is a short ratio of 1.60.

It’s also important to take note of hedge fund holdings via their 13F forms. When analyzing the funds we track, Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management had the most valuable position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), worth close to $1.183 billion, comprising 6.1% of its total 13F portfolio. In the second spot is ValueAct Capital, managed by Jeffrey Ubben, which held a $954.2 million position; 10.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management, Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management and Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management.

Also, bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out activity in other stocks similar to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). These stocks are Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE), salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM), SAP AG (ADR) (NYSE:SAP), and Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL). This group of stocks belong to the application software industry and their market caps are similar to MSFT’s market cap.

These three metrics–short sale information, hedge fund data and insider sentiment–are something every reader should account for. Although it is hard to find a usable strategy from short sale information, hedgie and insider sentiment provide lots of market beating opportunities if you know where to look.