Hedge Funds Are Selling Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD)

Is Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) worth your attention right now? The best stock pickers are in a pessimistic mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets fell by 3 recently.

At the moment, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to analyze stocks. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. There are a variety of reasons for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if investors know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action encompassing Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD).

What have hedge funds been doing with Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 33 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -8% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, holds the biggest position in Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD). Fisher Asset Management has a $177 million position in the stock, comprising 0.5% of its 13F portfolio. On Fisher Asset Management’s heels is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $94 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Mason Hawkins’s Southeastern Asset Management, Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management and Michael Messner’s Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt).

Judging by the fact that Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) has faced falling interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies that elected to cut their full holdings in Q4. Intriguingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital sold off the largest stake of the 450+ funds we track, totaling about $247 million in stock., and Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $11 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds in Q4.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) is an important part of this process.

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