Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU) shares are up over 7% today and rising. What if we told you we have data that predicted this gain?
In the financial world, there are many methods market participants can use to monitor the equity markets. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can beat their index-focused peers by a significant margin (see just how much).
Equally as necessary, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to look at the world of equities. Obviously, there are a variety of stimuli for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).
Now that that’s out of the way, it’s important to discuss the recent info surrounding Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU).
What have hedge funds been doing with Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 50% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, Passport Capital, managed by John Burbank, holds the largest position in Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU). Passport Capital has a $72.6 million position in the stock, comprising 2.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Passport Capital’s heels is Josh Resnick of Jericho Capital Asset Management, with a $47.5 million position; the fund has 3.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Alex Sacerdote’s Whale Rock Capital Management, Douglas Dillard Jr. and Raj D. Venkatesan’s Standard Pacific Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Passport Capital, managed by John Burbank, established the most valuable position in Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU). Passport Capital had 72.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Josh Resnick’s Jericho Capital Asset Management also initiated a $47.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Alex Sacerdote’s Whale Rock Capital Management, Douglas Dillard Jr. and Raj D. Venkatesan’s Standard Pacific Capital, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Insider trading activity in Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU)
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU). These stocks are Sify Technologies Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:SIFY), Trulia Inc (NYSE:TRLA), Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:IIJI), and Vipshop Holdings Ltd – ADR (NYSE:VIPS). This group of stocks belong to the internet service providers industry and their market caps are similar to QIHU’s market cap.
