Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (CNP)?

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) was in 19 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. CNP has seen a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently. There were 21 hedge funds in our database with CNP holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of gauges investors can use to watch publicly traded companies. Two of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can beat the market by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a number of motivations for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the key action encompassing CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP).

Hedge fund activity in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -10% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management had the largest position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP), worth close to $170.3 million, accounting for 0.6% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson of Adage Capital Management, with a $94.9 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Jacob Doft’s Highline Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Since CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has experienced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies who were dropping their entire stakes heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments said goodbye to the biggest stake of the 450+ funds we monitor, comprising close to $7.7 million in stock.. Murray Stahl’s fund, Horizon Asset Management, also cut its stock, about $2.5 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into Q2.

What have insiders been doing with CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP). These stocks are Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE:PEG), Northeast Utilities System (NYSE:NU), Ameren Corp (NYSE:AEE), NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG), and NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI). This group of stocks are the members of the diversified utilities industry and their market caps match CNP’s market cap.