We at Insider Monkey have gone over 700 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the government. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Wipro Limited (ADR) (NYSE:WIT) based on that data.
Is Wipro Limited (ADR) (NYSE:WIT) a bargain? Prominent investors are in an optimistic mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets increased by 1 recently. WIT was in 7 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with WIT positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare WIT to other stocks, including Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS), Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), and Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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If you’d ask most market participants, hedge funds are viewed as worthless, outdated financial tools of the past. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open today, We look at the bigwigs of this club, approximately 700 funds. These investment experts manage bulk of the smart money’s total asset base, and by tracking their highest performing picks, Insider Monkey has determined a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy defeated the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in their back tests.
Now, we’re going to review the latest action encompassing Wipro Limited (ADR) (NYSE:WIT).
What have hedge funds been doing with Wipro Limited (ADR) (NYSE:WIT)?
At the Q3’s end, a total of 7 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 17% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the biggest position in Wipro Limited (ADR) (NYSE:WIT). AQR Capital Management has a $58.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Lee Munder Capital Group, led by Lee Munder, holding a $12 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital.
As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. D. E. Shaw, initiated the most valuable position in Wipro Limited (ADR) (NYSE:WIT). D E Shaw had $0.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made a $0.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Wipro Limited (ADR) (NYSE:WIT) but similarly valued. These stocks are Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS), Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW), and Liberty Global PLC LiLAC Class C (NASDAQ:LILAK). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble WIT’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| LVS | 29 | 260583 | 10 |
| HAL | 59 | 3773834 | -10 |
| ITW | 31 | 934514 | -7 |
| LILAK | 40 | 406793 | 40 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 40 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.34 billion, significantly higher than the $88 million figure in WIT’s case. Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) is the least popular one with only 29 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Wipro Limited (ADR) (NYSE:WIT) is even less popular than LVS. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.
