Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment recently.
To the average investor, there are plenty of gauges investors can use to watch the equity markets. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can outpace the market by a superb margin (see just how much).
Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the world of equities. There are a variety of incentives for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you know what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action regarding Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS).
How have hedgies been trading Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 39% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Kensico Capital, managed by Michael Lowenstein, holds the largest position in Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS). Kensico Capital has a $80.6 million position in the stock, comprising 2.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Kensico Capital’s heels is Highbridge Capital Management, managed by Glenn Russell Dubin, which held a $71.2 million position; the fund has 0.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Michael Doheny’s Freshford Capital Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Joseph A. Jolson’s Harvest Capital Strategies.
As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Bluefin Investment Management, managed by Scott Burney, established the most outsized position in Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS). Bluefin Investment Management had 2.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management also initiated a $2.5 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SATS investors: Robert Jaffe’s Force Capital, Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management, and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
What have insiders been doing with Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS). These stocks are Exelis Inc (NYSE:XLS), ViaSat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT), Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), Alcatel Lucent SA (ADR) (NYSE:ALU), and JDS Uniphase Corp (NASDAQ:JDSU). All of these stocks are in the communication equipment industry and their market caps resemble SATS’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Exelis Inc (NYSE:XLS) | 21 | 0 | 4 |
| ViaSat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) | 8 | 1 | 6 |
| Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) | 17 | 0 | 7 |
| Alcatel Lucent SA (ADR) (NYSE:ALU) | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| JDS Uniphase Corp (NASDAQ:JDSU) | 22 | 0 | 6 |
With the results demonstrated by our strategies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
