Is Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK) a buy, sell, or hold? Money managers are turning bullish. The number of long hedge fund positions rose by 2 lately.
In the financial world, there are many gauges shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Just as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a look at the recent action surrounding Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK).
How are hedge funds trading Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 50% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Michael Kaufman’s MAK Capital One had the most valuable position in Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK), worth close to $35.5 million, comprising 7.7% of its total 13F portfolio. On MAK Capital One’s heels is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $8.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Michael Larson’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK) headfirst. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, managed by Michael Larson, initiated the biggest position in Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK). Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust had 7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also initiated a $0.1 million position during the quarter.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK). These stocks are Nam Tai Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:NTE), CTS Corporation (NYSE:CTS), Power One Inc (NASDAQ:PWER), Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (ADR) (NASDAQ:SIMO), and Methode Electronics Inc. (NYSE:MEI). This group of stocks are in the diversified electronics industry and their market caps match ORBK’s market cap.
