Premiere Global Services, Inc. (PGI) Hedge Funds Are Snapping Up

Like everyone else, elite investors make mistakes. Some of their top consensus picks, such as Micron and Anadarko Petroleum, have not done well during the last 12 months ending in October due to various reasons. Nevertheless, the data show elite investors’ consensus picks have done well on average. The top 30 S&P 500 stocks among hedge funds at the end of September 2014 yielded an average return of 9.5% during the last four quarters ending in October and sixty three percent of these 30 stocks outperformed the market. S&P 500 Index returned only 5.2% during the same period and less than 49% of its constituents managed to beat this return. Because their consensus picks have done well, we pay attention to what elite funds think before doing extensive research on a stock. In this article, we take a closer look at Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI) from the perspective of those elite funds.

Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late. At the end of this article, we will also compare Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI) to other stocks including Valhi, Inc. (NYSE:VHI), Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN), and Universal Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:UEIC) to get a better sense of its popularity.

If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are seen as slow, outdated investment tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, we hone in on the top tier of this club, about 700 funds. These money managers manage the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by monitoring their finest stock picks, Insider Monkey has uncovered several investment strategies that have historically outperformed the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in their back tests.

Now, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action surrounding Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI).

How have hedgies been trading Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI)?

At the end of September, a total of 16 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a drop of 14% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Glazer Capital, managed by Paul Glazer, holds the biggest position in Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI). Glazer Capital has a $27.7 million position in the stock, comprising 3.5% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Water Island Capital, led by John Orrico, holding a $13.3 million position; the fund has 0.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other professional money managers that are bullish include Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. The following funds were also among the new PGI investors: Highbridge Capital Management, Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners, and Michael Hintze’s CQS Cayman LP.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI). These stocks are Valhi, Inc. (NYSE:VHI), Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN), Universal Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:UEIC), and IAMGOLD Corporation (USA) (NYSE:IAG). This group of stocks’ market valuations is closest to Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI)’s market valuation.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $23 million. That figure was $72 million in Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI)’s case. Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Valhi, Inc. (NYSE:VHI) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE:PGI) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.