FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI) investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund sentiment in recent months.
If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are seen as underperforming, outdated investment tools of the past. While there are over 8000 funds trading at the moment, we choose to focus on the leaders of this group, close to 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the majority of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by tracking their best investments, we have uncovered a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (explore the details and some picks here).
Just as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. There are a number of reasons for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
Now, we’re going to take a look at the key action surrounding FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI).
What have hedge funds been doing with FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -6% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.
According to our comprehensive database, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the largest position in FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI). Citadel Investment Group has a $115 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. On Citadel Investment Group’s heels is Merchants’ Gate Capital, managed by Jason Capello, which held a $77.6 million position; the fund has 3.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
Seeing as FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there were a few hedgies who were dropping their full holdings at the end of the year. Interestingly, Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC sold off the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we monitor, valued at an estimated $33.6 million in stock.. Andrew Sandler’s fund, Sandler Capital Management, also dropped its stock, about $5.5 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds at the end of the year.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI) has seen 2 unique insiders purchasing, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI). These stocks are Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB), Oceaneering International (NYSE:OII), Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI), Weatherford International Ltd (NYSE:WFT), and Cameron International Corporation (NYSE:CAM). All of these stocks are in the oil & gas equipment & services industry and their market caps match FTI’s market cap.
