Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Is Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) the right pick for your portfolio? Money managers are in an optimistic mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets improved by 11 recently.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of gauges shareholders can use to analyze publicly traded companies. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. There are plenty of stimuli for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the recent action regarding Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX).

How have hedgies been trading Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 33 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 50% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the most valuable position in Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX). Citadel Investment Group has a $186.6 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Panayotis Takis Sparaggis of Alkeon Capital Management, with a $141.8 million position; 3.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

As aggregate interest increased, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Viking Global, managed by Andreas Halvorsen, assembled the largest position in Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX). Viking Global had 103.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management also made a $13.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are John M. Angelo and Michael L. Gordon’s Angelo Gordon & Co, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, and Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP.

What have insiders been doing with Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX). These stocks are IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ:IPGP), Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS), Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL), and Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – integrated circuits industry and their market caps are similar to XLNX’s market cap.