Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (TKC): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Is Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC) the right pick for your portfolio? The smart money is taking a pessimistic view. The number of long hedge fund bets stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience

According to most market participants, hedge funds are viewed as worthless, old investment tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open today, we at Insider Monkey look at the masters of this club, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by watching their top stock picks, we have identified a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (check out a sample of our picks).

Just as key, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a number of motivations for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if you understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action encompassing Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC).

What have hedge funds been doing with Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, holds the biggest position in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC). Millennium Management has a $1 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $0.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Due to the fact that Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of money managers who sold off their positions entirely at the end of the year. At the top of the heap, Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management cut the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we track, valued at close to $14 million in stock., and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How are insiders trading Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC). These stocks are Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT), TIM Participacoes SA (ADR) (NYSE:TSU), Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S), SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:SKM), and VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP). This group of stocks belong to the wireless communications industry and their market caps match TKC’s market cap.