Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (HNR): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR) investors should pay attention to the smart money’s sentiment.

In the financial world, there are tons of methods investors can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A duo 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 best fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a solid amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. There are plenty of incentives for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a look at the latest action encompassing Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR).

How are hedge funds trading Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Glenn J. Krevlin’s Glenhill Advisors had the most valuable position in Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR), worth close to $9.6 million, comprising 1.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Gruss Asset Management, managed by Howard Guberman, which held a $3.6 million position; the fund has 0.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Curtis Schenker and Craig Effron’s Scoggin, Andrew Wallach’s Cumberland Associates and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

It’s also safe to say that there were a few funds who were dropping their full holdings in Q1. Interestingly, Nick Niell’s Arrowgrass Capital Partners dropped the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, totaling close to $6.5 million in stock., and Ken Brodkowitz and Mike Vermut of Newland Capital was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $1.2 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s tactics, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds