Do Hedge Funds Love Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)?

Hedge fund activity in Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 68 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 11% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Pzena Investment Management, managed by Richard S. Pzena, holds the largest position in Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM). Pzena Investment Management has a $473.4 million position in the stock, comprising 2.9% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Fisher Asset Management, led by Ken Fisher, which holds a $419.8 million position; the fund has 0.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money that hold long positions consist of Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management, and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names have jumped into Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) headfirst. 0, managed by Benjamin A. Smith, initiated the largest call position in Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM). Laurion Capital Management had $108.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also made a $102.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new XOM investors: Jorge Paulo Lemann’s 0, Benjamin A. Smith’s 0, and Clint Carlson’s 0.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM). We will take a look at Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to XOM’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 103.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $9503 million. That figure was $3081 million in XOM’s case. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) is the least popular one with only 54 bullish hedge fund positions. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) 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 FB might be a better candidate to consider a long position.