Hedge Funds Are Selling Questar Corporation (STR)

Is Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR) a good investment?

In the financial world, there are many metrics shareholders can use to track their holdings. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outclass the broader indices by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as crucial, positive insider trading activity is another way to analyze the financial markets. There are lots of incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to examine the newest info about Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR).

How have hedgies been trading Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -17% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Osterweis Capital Management, managed by John Osterweis, holds the biggest position in Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR). Osterweis Capital Management has a $77.8 million position in the stock, comprising 2.9% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Israel Englander of Millennium Management, with a $6.6 million call position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Because Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR) has faced a fall in interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, logic holds that there exists a select few money managers that slashed their full holdings at the end of the second quarter. Intriguingly, Sean Cullinan’s Point State Capital said goodbye to the biggest position of the 450+ funds we monitor, worth an estimated $4.9 million in stock. David Costen Haley’s fund, HBK Investments, also dumped its stock, about $1.3 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds at the end of the second quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR). These stocks are Targa Resources Corp (NYSE:TRGP), AGL Resources Inc. (NYSE:GAS), Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO), Integrys Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:TEG), and AmeriGas Partners, L.P. (NYSE:APU). All of these stocks are in the gas utilities industry and their market caps match STR’s market cap.