At the moment, there are dozens of methods shareholders can use to monitor stocks. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can trounce the market by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Just as necessary, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of motivations for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s study the recent info for ASML Holding N.V. (ADR) (NASDAQ:ASML).
How have hedgies been trading ASML Holding N.V. (ADR) (NASDAQ:ASML)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 14% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, holds the most valuable position in ASML Holding N.V. (ADR) (NASDAQ:ASML). Fisher Asset Management has a $103.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Lone Pine Capital, managed by Stephen Mandel, which held a $81.7 million position; the fund has 0.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Ryan Heslop and Ariel Warszawski’s Firefly Value Partners, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Matthew Iorio’s White Elm Capital.
As one would understandably expect, particular hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, initiated the most outsized position in ASML Holding N.V. (ADR) (NASDAQ:ASML). Fisher Asset Management had 103.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital also initiated a $81.7 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ASML investors: Ryan Heslop and Ariel Warszawski’s Firefly Value Partners, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Matthew Iorio’s White Elm Capital.
How have insiders been trading ASML Holding N.V. (ADR) (NASDAQ:ASML)?
Insider buying made by high-level executives is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, ASML Holding N.V. (ADR) (NASDAQ:ASML) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to ASML Holding N.V. (ADR) (NASDAQ:ASML). These stocks are Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ADR) (NYSE:ASX), Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE), Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX), KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC), and Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT). All of these stocks are in the semiconductor equipment & materials industry and their market caps resemble ASML’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ADR) (NYSE:ASX) | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE) | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) | 40 | 0 | 0 |
| KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) | 31 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results shown by our studies, regular investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and ASML Holding N.V. (ADR) (NASDAQ:ASML) applies perfectly to this mantra.
