Is Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA) a buy here? The smart money is in a bearish mood. The number of long hedge fund positions dropped by 2 in recent months.
In today’s marketplace, there are many metrics market participants can use to watch stocks. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see just how much).
Just as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the world of equities. There are a variety of stimuli for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors understand where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action encompassing Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA).
How have hedgies been trading Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -11% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.
According to our comprehensive database, Starboard Value LP, managed by Jeffrey Smith, holds the largest position in Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA). Starboard Value LP has a $75 million position in the stock, comprising 6.8% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, which held a $47.3 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, Ryan Frick and Oliver Evans’s Dorsal Capital Management and Douglas T. Granat’s Trigran Investments.
Since Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes heading into Q2. Interestingly, Michael Doheny’s Freshford Capital Management sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies we watch, worth about $3.4 million in stock.. Zeke Ashton’s fund, Centaur Capital Partners, also dumped its stock, about $1.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds heading into Q2.
Insider trading activity in Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA)
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA) has seen 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 Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA). These stocks are Brooks Automation, Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:BRKS), Entegris Inc (NASDAQ:ENTG), ATMI Inc (NASDAQ:ATMI), Kulicke and Soffa Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC), and Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK). This group of stocks are in the semiconductor equipment & materials industry and their market caps are similar to TSRA’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Brooks Automation, Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:BRKS) | 9 | 0 | 3 |
| Entegris Inc (NASDAQ:ENTG) | 15 | 0 | 12 |
| ATMI Inc (NASDAQ:ATMI) | 11 | 0 | 13 |
| Kulicke and Soffa Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) | 24 | 0 | 8 |
| Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK) | 23 | 0 | 6 |
With the returns shown by the aforementioned studies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA) is an important part of this process.
