Is Visteon Corp (NYSE:VC) worth your attention right now? The best stock pickers are getting less bullish. The number of long hedge fund bets were trimmed by 5 recently.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of metrics shareholders can use to track the equity markets. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are many motivations for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious 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).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the latest action regarding Visteon Corp (NYSE:VC).
What have hedge funds been doing with Visteon Corp (NYSE:VC)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 39 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -11% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Owl Creek Asset Management, managed by Jeffrey Altman, holds the most valuable position in Visteon Corp (NYSE:VC). Owl Creek Asset Management has a $141 million billion position in the stock, comprising 4.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, which held a $136 million position; the fund has 0.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that are bullish include Mark T. Gallogly’s Centerbridge Partners, Christopher Pucillo’s Solus Alternative Asset Management and Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners.
Because Visteon Corp (NYSE:VC) has experienced a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there were a few funds that elected to cut their entire stakes at the end of the year. It’s worth mentioning that Michael Weinstock’s Monarch Alternative Capital cut the biggest position of all the hedgies we monitor, totaling close to $52 million in stock. Douglas Hirsch’s fund, Seneca Capital, also sold off its stock, about $24 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 5 funds at the end of the year.
How have insiders been trading Visteon Corp (NYSE:VC)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time period, Visteon Corp (NYSE:VC) has experienced 3 unique insiders purchasing, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned research, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Visteon Corp (NYSE:VC) is an important part of this process.
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