Ultratech, Inc. (UTEK): Hedge Funds Are Bearish and Insiders Are Undecided, What Should You Do?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of gauges shareholders can use to analyze Mr. Market. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as crucial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the financial markets. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if you know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s examine the newest info about Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK).

How are hedge funds trading Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -39% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

According to our 13F database, Adage Capital Management, managed by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, holds the most valuable position in Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK). Adage Capital Management has a $50.9 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. On Adage Capital Management’s heels is Carlson Capital, managed by Clint Carlson, which held a $42.2 million position; the fund has 0.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include Ryan Frick and Oliver Evans’s Dorsal Capital Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital.

Because Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK) has faced a fall in interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies who were dropping their full holdings heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors said goodbye to the biggest stake of all the hedgies we key on, totaling about $20 million in stock. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s fund, Two Sigma Advisors, also sold off its stock, about $5.3 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 9 funds heading into Q2.

How have insiders been trading Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK) 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 Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK). These stocks are ATMI Inc (NASDAQ:ATMI), Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO), Entegris Inc (NASDAQ:ENTG), Kulicke and Soffa Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC), and Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRA). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor equipment & materials industry and their market caps resemble UTEK’s market cap.

Using the results shown by Insider Monkey’s tactics, regular investors should always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTEK) is an important part of this process.

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