Although the masses and most of the financial media blame hedge funds for their exorbitant fee structure and disappointing performance, these investors have proved to have great stock picking abilities over the years (that’s why their assets under management continue to swell). We believe hedge fund sentiment should serve as a crucial tool of an individual investor’s stock selection process, as it may offer great insights of how the brightest minds of the finance industry feel about specific stocks. After all, these people have access to smartest analysts and expensive data/information sources that individual investors can’t match. So should one consider investing in EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC)? The smart money sentiment can provide an answer to this question.
Is EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) a splendid stock to buy now? Prominent investors are in a bullish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets improved by 11 recently. EMC was in 65 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 54 hedge funds in our database with EMC holdings at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Statoil ASA (ADR) (NYSE:STO), HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ), and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:MFG) to gather more data points.
Follow Emc Corp (NYSE:EMC)
Follow Emc Corp (NYSE:EMC)
Now, we’re going to take a glance at the fresh action surrounding EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC).
How are hedge funds trading EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 65 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 20% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Paul Singer’s Elliott Management has the number one position in EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), worth close to $821.4 million, amounting to 15.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Kenneth Mario Garschina of Mason Capital Management, with a $277.8 million call position; the fund has 5.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies, Kenneth Mario Garschina’s Mason Capital Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Consequently, some big names have jumped into EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) headfirst. Mason Capital Management, managed by Kenneth Mario Garschina, initiated the largest call position in EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC). Mason Capital Management had $277.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ahmet Okumus’s Okumus Fund Management also initiated a $173.6 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital, Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group, and Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Statoil ASA (ADR) (NYSE:STO), HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ), Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:MFG), and salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to EMC’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| STO | 10 | 62793 | 2 |
| HPQ | 59 | 3068099 | 4 |
| MFG | 6 | 12898 | -2 |
| CRM | 56 | 1652226 | -12 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 32.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1,199 million. That figure was $3,359 million in EMC’s case. HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:MFG) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
