Now, according to many investors, hedge funds are assumed to be bloated, old investment tools of an era lost to time. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds trading in present day, this site looks at the elite of this group, close to 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group oversees the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by tracking their highest quality equity investments, we’ve formulated a few investment strategies that have historically outperformed the S&P 500. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find a sample of our picks).
Just as crucial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the stock market universe. Obviously, there are lots of stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).
Thus, we’re going to analyze the latest info for Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP).
Hedge fund activity in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP)
At Q2’s end, a total of 31 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
As aggregate interest spiked, particular hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. First Pacific Advisors LLC, managed by Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick, established the biggest position in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP). First Pacific Advisors LLC had 140.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management also made a $101.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CHKP positions are Robert Pitts’s Steadfast Capital Management, David Gallo’s Valinor Management LLC, and Daniel Bubis’s Tetrem Capital Management.
How have insiders been trading Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP)?
Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP). These stocks are AsiaInfo-Linkage, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASIA), Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT), Brady Corp (NYSE:BRC), Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIRE), and Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC). All of these stocks are in the security software & services industry and their market caps match CHKP’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| AsiaInfo-Linkage, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASIA) | 9 | 0 | 2 |
| Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT) | 12 | 0 | 4 |
| Brady Corp (NYSE:BRC) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIRE) | 13 | 0 | 5 |
| Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) | 35 | 0 | 6 |
Using the returns explained by our research, average investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) applies perfectly to this mantra.
