Does the following data mean DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) is a buy?
To many market players, hedge funds are assumed to be delayed, old financial vehicles of a period lost to current times. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds with their doors open currently, Insider Monkey aim at the leaders of this group, close to 525 funds. It is widely held that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total assets, and by paying attention to their best picks, we’ve discovered a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the S&P 500. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outpaced the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are a number of stimuli for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors understand where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s examine the latest info for DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH).
Hedge fund activity in DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH)
In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 56 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 44% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management had the biggest position in DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), worth close to $370 million, comprising 2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Glenn Russell Dubin of Highbridge Capital Management, with a $274.3 million position; 2.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Kenneth Mario Garschina’s Mason Capital Management, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors and Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors.
As industrywide interest increased, particular hedge funds have jumped into DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) headfirst. Eagle Capital Management, managed by Boykin Curry, assembled the biggest position in DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH). Eagle Capital Management had 370 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also made a $274.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new DISH investors: Kenneth Mario Garschina’s Mason Capital Management, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, and Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors.
How have insiders been trading DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH)?
Insider buying is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 14 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH). These stocks are Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), Shaw Communications Inc (USA) (NYSE:SJR), Virgin Media Inc. (NASDAQ:VMED), Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA), and Liberty Global Inc. (NASDAQ:LBTYA). This group of stocks belong to the catv systems industry and their market caps are similar to DISH’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) | 58 | 1 | 13 |
| Shaw Communications Inc (USA) (NYSE:SJR) | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Virgin Media Inc. (NASDAQ:VMED) | 0 | 11 | |
| Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA) | 13 | 1 | 6 |
| Liberty Global Inc. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) | 78 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results explained by the previously mentioned research, average investors should always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) is an important part of this process.
