Hedge Funds Are Dumping E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (DD)

E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of gauges market participants can use to track publicly traded companies. Two of the most useful 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 hedge fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a superb amount (see just how much).

Just as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of reasons 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 valuable potential of this strategy if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a look at the recent action regarding E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD).

How have hedgies been trading E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 26 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -21% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

Of the funds we track, Levin Capital Strategies, managed by John A. Levin, holds the biggest position in E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD). Levin Capital Strategies has a $153 million position in the stock, comprising 2.7% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, with a $46.7 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Seeing as E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) has experienced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds who sold off their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management cut the largest position of the 450+ funds we track, valued at close to $27.8 million in stock., and Matthew Tewksbury of Stevens Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $17.9 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 7 funds at the end of the first quarter.

How have insiders been trading E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD). These stocks are FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC), Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN), Sociedad Quimica y Minera (ADR) (NYSE:SQM), Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), and The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW). This group of stocks are in the chemicals – major diversified industry and their market caps resemble DD’s market cap.