To the average investor, there are tons of metrics investors can use to watch stocks. 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 best picks of the top fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a significant margin (see just how much).
Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are many motivations for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action encompassing Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX).
How are hedge funds trading Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the largest position in Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX). Citadel Investment Group has a $145 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. On Citadel Investment Group’s heels is Alkeon Capital Management, managed by Panayotis æTakisÆ Sparaggis, which held a $118 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management and Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors.
Judging by the fact that Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedgies who were dropping their full holdings in Q4. At the top of the heap, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors said goodbye to the biggest stake of all the hedgies we key on, comprising about $2 million in call options. Brian Taylor’s fund, Pine River Capital Management, also cut its stock, about $2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How have insiders been trading Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results exhibited by our studies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) is no exception.
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