Should You Buy Plantronics, Inc. (PLT)?

Is Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) a good investment?

To many market players, hedge funds are assumed to be overrated, outdated financial vehicles of an era lost to time. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds with their doors open today, Insider Monkey focuses on the leaders of this club, about 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group oversees the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their best investments, we’ve identified a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find the details here).

Equally as key, positive insider trading activity is another way to look at the world of equities. Obviously, there are lots of incentives for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

Furthermore, let’s discuss the latest info for Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT).

Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT)

How have hedgies been trading Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 33% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the most valuable position in Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT), worth close to $211.7 million, accounting for 0.7% of its total 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is Dreman Value Management, managed by David Dreman, which held a $28.9 million position; the fund has 0.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) headfirst. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, created the most valuable position in Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT). Royce & Associates had 211.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management also made a $28.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new PLT investors: Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

How have insiders been trading Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT)?

Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time frame, Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Using the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s analyses, regular investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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