News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) was in 67 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. NWSA has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest lately. There were 66 hedge funds in our database with NWSA positions at the end of the previous quarter.
In the financial world, there are tons of indicators shareholders can use to track stocks. Two of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Just as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a look at the recent action regarding News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA).
What have hedge funds been doing with News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 67 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 2% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management had the largest position in News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA), worth close to $2.046 billion, comprising 12.3% of its total 13F portfolio. On Yacktman Asset Management’s heels is Childrens Investment Fund, managed by Chris Hohn, which held a $876 million position; the fund has 61.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global, Eric Mindich’s Eton Park Capital and Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names have jumped into News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) headfirst. OZ Management, managed by Daniel S. Och, created the biggest position in News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA). OZ Management had 215 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dan Loeb’s Third Point also made a $179 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Patrick Degorce’s Theleme Partners, John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management, and Tiger Global Management LLC.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA)?
Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns exhibited by Insider Monkey’s strategies, everyday investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) is an important part of this process.
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