Is 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) worth your attention right now? Money managers are becoming less confident. The number of long hedge fund bets fell by 4 in recent months.
In the financial world, there are a multitude of indicators shareholders can use to track stocks. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).
Just as important, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. There are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
Now, let’s take a glance at the key action encompassing 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT).
What have hedge funds been doing with 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT)?
At year’s end, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -36% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.
According to our comprehensive database, Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital had the biggest position in 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT), worth close to $7.1 million, comprising 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Robert B. Gillam of McKinley Capital Management, with a $4.1 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.
Because 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) has witnessed a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedge funds who sold off their positions entirely at the end of the year. Interestingly, Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital dropped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, valued at close to $8.6 million in stock., and Israel Englander of Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $1.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds at the end of the year.
How have insiders been trading 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT)?
Insider buying is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT). These stocks are CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP), Allot Communications Ltd. (NASDAQ:ALLT), Calix Inc (NYSE:CALX), Comtech Telecomm. Corp. (NASDAQ:CMTL), and Vocera Communications Inc (NYSE:VCRA). This group of stocks are in the communication equipment industry and their market caps match EGHT’s market cap.
