Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest in recent months.
To most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be worthless, outdated financial tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at the moment, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the top tier of this group, around 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by paying attention to their best equity investments, we have deciphered a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually 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 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).
Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a number of stimuli for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action regarding Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU).
What have hedge funds been doing with Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 32 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 10% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.
As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have jumped into Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) headfirst. 3G Capital, managed by Jorge Paulo Lemann, created the most outsized position in Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU). 3G Capital had 10.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors also initiated a $6 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SU investors: Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital, Jonathan Kolatch’s Redwood Capital Management, and Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management.
What have insiders been doing with Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time period, Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU). These stocks are Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA), EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG), Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ), Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD), and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC). This group of stocks belong to the independent oil & gas industry and their market caps are closest to SU’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) | 41 | 5 | 1 |
| EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) | 40 | 0 | 6 |
| Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) | 15 | 1 | 3 |
| Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) | 60 | 0 | 1 |
With the results exhibited by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
