VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (VIP): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately.

In the financial world, there are a multitude of methods shareholders can use to track the equity markets. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outclass the market by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are a variety of incentives for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a peek at the key action regarding VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP).

What have hedge funds been doing with VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Discovery Capital Management, managed by Rob Citrone, holds the biggest position in VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP). Discovery Capital Management has a $118.5 million position in the stock, comprising 1.6% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $5.2 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that are bullish include Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Due to the fact that VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) has witnessed declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there exists a select few money managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies said goodbye to the largest investment of the 450+ funds we key on, worth close to $6.2 million in stock.. Philippe Jabre’s fund, Jabre Capital Partners, also sold off its stock, about $2.1 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How are insiders trading VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP). These stocks are TELUS Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TU), Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT), Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S), SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:SKM), and Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) (NYSE:TKC). This group of stocks are the members of the wireless communications industry and their market caps match VIP’s market cap.

With the results shown by our time-tested strategies, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds