Is NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Is NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD) a marvelous stock to buy now? The best stock pickers are reducing their bets on the stock. The number of bullish hedge fund bets decreased by 2 in recent months.

NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD)

In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to watch Mr. Market. Two of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are lots of motivations for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the key action encompassing NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD).

What have hedge funds been doing with NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -10% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

Of the funds we track, Discovery Capital Management, managed by Rob Citrone, holds the biggest position in NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD). Discovery Capital Management has a $72 million position in the stock, comprising 1% of its 13F portfolio. On Discovery Capital Management’s heels is Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management, with a $52 million position; the fund has 0.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Robert Pitts’s Steadfast Capital Management, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors and Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital.

Due to the fact that NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there is a sect of funds that elected to cut their full holdings in Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital dumped the biggest stake of all the hedgies we track, comprising close to $12 million in stock.. Paul Hudson’s fund, Glade Brook Capital Partners, also cut its call options., about $6 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds in Q4.

How have insiders been trading NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD) has experienced 2 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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