Is Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS) was in 16 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. DPS shareholders have witnessed an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. There were 15 hedge funds in our database with DPS holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS)

At the moment, there are many gauges investors can use to monitor the equity markets. Some of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a solid margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. There are plenty of incentives for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if you know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action surrounding Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS).

What does the smart money think about Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 7% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors had the most valuable position in Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS), worth close to $113 million, comprising 0.8% of its total 13F portfolio. On GAMCO Investors’s heels is Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $62 million position; 4.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Capital Management and Claes Fornell’s CSat Investment Advisory.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. CSat Investment Advisory, managed by Claes Fornell, initiated the largest position in Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS). CSat Investment Advisory had 10 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group also made a $9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new DPS positions are Michael Messner’s Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt), David Harding’s Winton Capital Management, and Daniel Bubis’s Tetrem Capital Management.

How are insiders trading Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by our time-tested strategies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS) is no exception.

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