BHP Billiton Limited (ADR) (BHP): Smart Money Ownership Remains Underwhelming

Now, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Capital Growth Management initiated the biggest position in BHP Billiton Limited (ADR) (NYSE:BHP). LMR Partners also made a $16.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new BHP investors: Richard Driehaus’ Driehaus Capital, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as BHP Billiton Limited (ADR) (NYSE:BHP) but similarly valued. These stocks are Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC), Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU), Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON), and Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble BHP’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 42 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.16 billion. That figure was a meager $253 million in BHP’s case. Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. BHP Billiton Limited (ADR) (NYSE:BHP) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard MON might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.

Disclosure: None