Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (SBS): Hedge Funds and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS) was in 8 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. SBS investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund sentiment lately. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with SBS holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS)

In the financial world, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to monitor publicly traded companies. Two of the most underrated 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 elite fund managers can outperform the market by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as important, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a peek at the recent action encompassing Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS).

Hedge fund activity in Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS)

At Q1’s end, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -20% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management had the most valuable position in Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS), worth close to $29.6 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, which held a $6.6 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that are bullish include John I. Dickerson’s Summit Global Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Seeing as Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS) has witnessed a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedge funds who were dropping their full holdings last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies we track, comprising about $8.2 million in stock., and Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates LP was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.8 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds last quarter.

How are insiders trading Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s strategies, everyday investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) (NYSE:SBS) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds