Is CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL) a good investment?
In the financial world, there are plenty of metrics investors can use to watch the equity markets. Two of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can beat their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Equally as useful, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the stock market universe. There are many stimuli for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).
Furthermore, we’re going to discuss the newest info for CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL).
How have hedgies been trading CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL)?
Heading into Q3, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -22% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments had the biggest call position in CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL), worth close to $21.2 million, accounting for 0.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, which held a $19.6 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers with similar optimism include David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Due to the fact CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL) has witnessed declining interest from the top-tier hedge fund industry, we can see that there were a few hedgies that decided to sell off their positions entirely in Q1. Interestingly, James Melcher’s Balestra dropped the biggest investment of all the hedgies we track, worth about $30 million in stock. Clint Carlson’s fund, Carlson Capital, also dumped its stock, about $17 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 5 funds in Q1.
How have insiders been trading CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL)?
Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL). These stocks are TW Telecom Inc (NASDAQ:TWTC), Frontier Communications Corp (NASDAQ:FTR), Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN), BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE), and Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:CHT). All of these stocks are in the telecom services – domestic industry and their market caps are closest to CTL’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| TW Telecom Inc (NASDAQ:TWTC) | 29 | 0 | 0 |
| Frontier Communications Corp (NASDAQ:FTR) | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:CHT) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results shown by our studies, average investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL) is no exception.
