Is Cleco Corporation (NYSE:CNL) a good investment?
Now, according to many traders, hedge funds are viewed as useless, outdated investment tools of an era lost to time. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds in operation in present day, Insider Monkey aim at the upper echelon of this club, close to 525 funds. It is assumed that this group oversees the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total assets, and by monitoring their best investments, we’ve identified a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum 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 trumped the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find a sample of our picks).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the world of equities. There are a number of motivations for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors know where to look (learn more here).
Thus, let’s examine the recent info surrounding Cleco Corporation (NYSE:CNL).
What does the smart money think about Cleco Corporation (NYSE:CNL)?
Heading into Q3, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 20% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.
Consequently, certain bigger names have jumped into Cleco Corporation (NYSE:CNL) headfirst. Adage Capital Management, managed by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, established the most valuable position in Cleco Corporation (NYSE:CNL). Adage Capital Management had 27.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Millennium Management Subsidiary’s Decade Capital Management also made a $27.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management.
Insider trading activity in Cleco Corporation (NYSE:CNL)
Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, Cleco Corporation (NYSE:CNL) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Cleco Corporation (NYSE:CNL). These stocks are Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR), Great Plains Energy Incorporated (NYSE:GXP), IDACORP Inc (NYSE:IDA), Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE), and Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN). This group of stocks belong to the electric utilities industry and their market caps are closest to CNL’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Great Plains Energy Incorporated (NYSE:GXP) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| IDACORP Inc (NYSE:IDA) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
Using the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s tactics, average investors must always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Cleco Corporation (NYSE:CNL) is an important part of this process.
Discover how hedge fund piggybacking can benefit you
Recommended Reading:
Cleco Corporation (CNL): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?
