In the financial world, there are a multitude of methods market participants can use to watch Mr. Market. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. 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 healthy margin (see just how much).
Equally as crucial, positive insider trading activity is another way to look at the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of stimuli for an 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 useful potential of this strategy if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s study the latest info about VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW).
How have hedgies been trading VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 29 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 4% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Maverick Capital, managed by Lee Ainslie, holds the largest position in VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW). Maverick Capital has a $147.9 million position in the stock, comprising 2% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Glenn Russell Dubin of Highbridge Capital Management, with a $125 million position; the fund has 1.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors and Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital.
Consequently, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Maverick Capital, managed by Lee Ainslie, assembled the biggest position in VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW). Maverick Capital had 147.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also made a $125 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new VMW positions are Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, and Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital.
How have insiders been trading VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW)?
Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) has seen 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 3 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 VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW). These stocks are Concur Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNQR), National Instruments Corp (NASDAQ:NATI), ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS), Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), and Infosys Ltd ADR (NYSE:INFY). This group of stocks are the members of the technical & system software industry and their market caps resemble VMW’s market cap.
