NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) was in 41 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. NXPI investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 24 hedge funds in our database with NXPI positions at the end of the previous quarter.
In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are seen as unimportant, old financial vehicles of the past. While there are over 8000 funds trading today, we choose to focus on the bigwigs of this group, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by tracking their highest performing equity investments, we have formulated a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat 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 (explore the details and some picks here).
Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the financial markets. Obviously, there are a number of reasons for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the key action encompassing NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI).
How have hedgies been trading NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 41 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 71% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.
Now, specific money managers have jumped into NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) headfirst. Viking Global, managed by Andreas Halvorsen, established the most outsized position in NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI). Viking Global had 103.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dan Loeb’s Third Point also made a $75.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new NXPI positions are Nick Niell’s Arrowgrass Capital Partners, Josh Resnick’s Jericho Capital Asset Management, and Charles Clough’s Clough Capital Partners.
What have insiders been doing with NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) 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 NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI). These stocks are Freescale Semiconductor Ltd (NYSE:FSL), AU Optronics Corp. (ADR) (NYSE:AUO), Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ:MXIM), Avago Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO), and STMicroelectronics N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:STM). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – broad line industry and their market caps resemble NXPI’s market cap.
