Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of indicators shareholders can use to track stocks. Two of the most useful 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 outpace the broader indices by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a look at the latest action surrounding Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX).
What have hedge funds been doing with Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -27% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.
Of the funds we track, David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital had the largest position in Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX), worth close to $254.6 million, comprising 4% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Iridian Asset Management, managed by David Cohen and Harold Levy, which held a $95.5 million position; 1.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining peers that are bullish include Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
Seeing as Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) has witnessed a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there were a few fund managers who sold off their full holdings in Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Anthony Bozza’s Lakewood Capital Management said goodbye to the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, comprising an estimated $62.5 million in stock., and John Thaler of JAT Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $52.4 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 8 funds in Q4.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 18 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX). These stocks are Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRCD), EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC), NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP), and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK). This group of stocks are the members of the data storage devices industry and their market caps are similar to STX’s market cap.
