Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Neustar Inc (NSR)?

Is Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR) worth your attention right now? Money managers are in a bullish mood. The number of long hedge fund positions inched up by 2 recently.

Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR)

In the eyes of most traders, hedge funds are seen as unimportant, outdated investment tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey look at the masters of this club, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by paying attention to their best stock picks, we have uncovered a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outpaced the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of incentives for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a gander at the recent action encompassing Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR).

What have hedge funds been doing with Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 13% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the largest position in Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR). Renaissance Technologies has a $86.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Edward Goodnow of Goodnow Investment Group, with a $37.5 million position; the fund has 8.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Spencer M. Waxman’s Shannon River Fund Management and Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital.

As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers have jumped into Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR) headfirst. Shannon River Fund Management, managed by Spencer M. Waxman, assembled the most outsized position in Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR). Shannon River Fund Management had 5.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments also initiated a $1 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new NSR investors: Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp, Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital, and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

What have insiders been doing with Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results exhibited by the aforementioned research, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Neustar Inc (NYSE:NSR) is no exception.

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