In This Article:
Hedge funds and large money managers usually invest with a focus on the long-term horizon and, therefore, short-lived dips on the charts, usually don't make them change their opinion towards a company. This time it may be different. During the first 6 weeks of the fourth quarter we observed increased volatility and small-cap stocks underperformed the market. Hedge fund investor letters indicated that they are cutting their overall exposure, closing out some position and doubling down on others. Let’s take a look at the hedge fund sentiment towards Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) to find out whether it was one of their high conviction long-term ideas.
Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest recently. Our calculations also showed that PLT isn't among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey's flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 6.3% year to date (through December 3rd) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 18 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
We're going to take a gander at the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT).
How have hedgies been trading Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 32% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 14 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in PLT heading into this year. With the smart money's positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an "upper tier" of key hedge fund managers who were adding to their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
The largest stake in Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE:PLT) was held by Renaissance Technologies, which reported holding $76.4 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by GLG Partners with a $21.6 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Millennium Management, Citadel Investment Group, and AQR Capital Management.