If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as slow, old investment vehicles of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at the moment, we hone in on the aristocrats of this club, close to 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by monitoring their top investments, we have uncovered a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year 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 beaten the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (see the details here).
Just as important, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a number of motivations for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you understand where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, let’s take a look at the latest action encompassing Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR).
Hedge fund activity in Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR)
At year’s end, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -11% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Scoggin, managed by Curtis Schenker and Craig Effron, holds the largest position in Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR). Scoggin has a $12 million position in the stock, comprising 0.8% of its 13F portfolio. On Scoggin’s heels is Glenn J. Krevlin of Glenhill Advisors, with a $7 million position; the fund has 1.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Nick Niell’s Arrowgrass Capital Partners, Andrew Wallach’s Cumberland Associates and Wayne Cooperman’s Cobalt Capital Management.
Seeing as Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR) has faced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few money managers that slashed their full holdings in Q4. Intriguingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital cut the biggest stake of all the hedgies we track, comprising about $0 million in stock.. Richard Schimel’s fund, Diamondback Capital, also dropped its call options., about $0 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds in Q4.
How are insiders trading Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR)?
Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results shown by our research, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
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