Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT)?

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Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT) was in 22 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. APKT has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. There were 25 hedge funds in our database with APKT positions at the end of the previous quarter.

According to most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, old financial tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the leaders of this club, close to 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on the majority of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tracking their highest performing investments, we have figured out a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the marketplace. There are a variety of stimuli for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action encompassing Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT).

What does the smart money think about Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -12% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

The Safest Way to Invest in "the Cloud" and Earn 5% YieldsWhen looking at the hedgies we track, Kenneth Mario Garschina’s Mason Capital Management had the most valuable position in Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT), worth close to $96.2 million, accounting for 2.4% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $88.1 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Jane Mendillo’s Harvard Management Co, Tony Chedraoui’s Tyrus Capital and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.

Due to the fact that Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT) has witnessed declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there is a sect of fund managers that slashed their entire stakes at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich’s Scopia Capital dumped the biggest position of all the hedgies we key on, comprising about $20 million in stock.. Josh Resnick’s fund, Jericho Capital Asset Management, also dropped its stock, about $16.9 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds at the end of the first quarter.

How have insiders been trading Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT). These stocks are Alcatel Lucent SA (ADR) (NYSE:ALU), Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN), ViaSat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT), Arris Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRS), and Exelis Inc (NYSE:XLS). This group of stocks belong to the communication equipment industry and their market caps are closest to APKT’s market cap.

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