Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ) Anymore

Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ) was in 23 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. IVZ has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest lately. There were 24 hedge funds in our database with IVZ positions at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are dozens of methods shareholders can use to watch their holdings. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can beat their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Just as important, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the latest action encompassing Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ).

Hedge fund activity in Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ)

At year’s end, a total of 23 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -4% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Pzena Investment Management, managed by Richard S. Pzena, holds the most valuable position in Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ). Pzena Investment Management has a $226 million billion position in the stock, comprising 1.9% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $194 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

Due to the fact that Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there were a few fund managers who were dropping their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global dumped the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, valued at about $62 million in stock., and Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $21 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds last quarter.

How have insiders been trading Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ)?

Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns demonstrated by our tactics, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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