Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (VOD): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

We at Insider Monkey have gone over 742 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the government. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) based on that data.

Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2016. VOD has experienced a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months. There were 22 hedge funds in our database with VOD positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:COG), Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (USA) (NYSE:AEM), and Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG) to gather more data points.

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Hedge fund activity in Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD)

Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, an 18% decline from the second quarter of 2016, and the third quarter over the past year in which hedge fund ownership has declined. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in VOD over the last 5 quarters. So, let’s find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Renaissance Technologies, led by Jim Simons, holds the most valuable position in Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD). Renaissance Technologies has a $152.1 million position in the stock. On Renaissance Technologies’ heels is D E Shaw, founded by David E. Shaw, holding a $77.7 million position. Some other members of the smart money that are bullish encompass Michael Messner’s Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt), Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, and William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management. We should note that Orbis Investment Management is among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.

Due to the fact that Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there was a specific group of fund managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners dropped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $35.5 million in call options. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s fund, Marshall Wace LLP, also dropped its call options, about $23.4 million worth.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD). We will take a look at Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:COG), Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (USA) (NYSE:AEM), Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG), and Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble VOD’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 34 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.30 billion. That figure was $446 million in VOD’s case. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard AAP might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None