Is Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) a great investment now? Hedge funds are becoming less hopeful. The number of bullish hedge fund positions fell by 1 lately.
If you’d ask most investors, hedge funds are perceived as worthless, outdated financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the bigwigs of this club, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group has its hands on most of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by monitoring their highest performing equity investments, we have identified a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year 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 beaten the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (explore the details and some picks here).
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Now, it’s important to take a gander at the recent action encompassing Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE).
How are hedge funds trading Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -4% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, GMT Capital, managed by Thomas E. Claugus, holds the largest position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE). GMT Capital has a $276 million position in the stock, comprising 6.7% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Douglas Dillard Jr. and Raj D. Venkatesan of Standard Pacific Capital, with a $35 million position; the fund has 5.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Curtis Macnguyen’s Ivory Capital (Investment Mgmt), David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management LP and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
Due to the fact that Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) has witnessed a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there exists a select few hedgies who sold off their entire stakes in Q4. It’s worth mentioning that James Dinan’s York Capital Management sold off the largest position of the 450+ funds we monitor, totaling about $41 million in stock.. Dmitry Balyasny’s fund, Balyasny Asset Management, also dropped its stock, about $20 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds in Q4.
How have insiders been trading Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) applies perfectly to this mantra.
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