This Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) Data Will Make Your Day - InvestingChannel

This Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) Data Will Make Your Day

This Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) data will make your day.

In the eyes of many market players, hedge funds are assumed to be delayed, outdated investment vehicles of a period lost to current times. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds trading today, this site aim at the bigwigs of this group, about 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group oversees most of the smart money’s total capital, and by monitoring their highest performing stock picks, we’ve spotted a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Equally as useful, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are a number of incentives for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Furthermore, it’s important to examine the newest info surrounding Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ).

What have hedge funds been doing with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 45 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 55% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

According to our 13F database, Adage Capital Management, managed by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, holds the largest position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ). Adage Capital Management has a $208.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $188.5 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies.

With a general bullishness amongst the titans, particular hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Adage Capital Management, managed by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, assembled the most outsized position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ). Adage Capital Management had 208.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also made a $188.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new VZ investors: Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies.

How have insiders been trading Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ). These stocks are Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN), CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL), Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:CHT), BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE), and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). This group of stocks belong to the telecom services – domestic industry and their market caps resemble VZ’s market cap.