Google Inc. (GOOG): Hedge Funds and Insiders Are Bearish

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has experienced a decrease in hedge fund interest lately.

There are many indicators investors can use to analyze the equity markets. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research has shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can beat the market by a significant market (see just how much).

Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are many reasons for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Countless academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the recent action surrounding Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG).

Hedge fund activity in Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 126 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -12% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, some notable hedge fund managers were upping their stakes considerably.

Arrowstreet Capital increased his stake by a total of 1415%, the largest of the funds we track. Blue Mountain Capital and Millennium Management were also increasing their holdings, while Discovery Capital Management and Incline Global Management established new positions in the stock.

All in all, Lone Pine Capital held the largest position, ahead of peers D E Shaw, Lansdowne Partners, and Citadel Investment Group.

Insider trading activity in Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Since the start of 2013, Google Inc. has seen 0 insider purchases and 460 insider sales.

The most recent insider sale came with Lawrence Page’s transaction of 400 shares at an average price of $839.07.

With the results demonstrated by our time-tested strategies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is no exception.

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