Is VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) a good investment now? The best stock pickers are taking a bullish view. The number of long hedge fund positions inched up by 3 lately.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of gauges investors can use to track publicly traded companies. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can outclass the market by a solid amount (see just how much).
Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the latest action surrounding VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP).
How have hedgies been trading VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 60% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management had the most valuable position in VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP), worth close to $82.7 million, accounting for 1.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which held a $6.6 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors and Philippe Jabre’s Jabre Capital Partners.
Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) headfirst. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, established the most valuable position in VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP). Millennium Management had 6.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also made a $6.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Philippe Jabre’s Jabre Capital Partners and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.
How are insiders trading VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP). These stocks are TELUS Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TU), Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT), Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S), SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:SKM), and Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC). All of these stocks are in the wireless communications industry and their market caps are closest to VIP’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| TELUS Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TU) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) | 49 | 1 | 3 |
| SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:SKM) | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
With the returns shown by the aforementioned studies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) applies perfectly to this mantra.
