Hedge Funds Are Selling Schlumberger Limited. (SLB)

Is Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) an exceptional stock to buy now? Investors who are in the know are becoming less confident. The number of long hedge fund bets stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience

To the average investor, there are many methods shareholders can use to analyze stocks. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. There are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the key action encompassing Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB).

How are hedge funds trading Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 57 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the biggest position in Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB), worth close to $581.8 million, comprising 1.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Merchants’ Gate Capital, managed by Jason Capello, which held a $219.1 million position; 10.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that are bullish include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

Due to the fact that Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) has witnessed declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there exists a select few funds that elected to cut their entire stakes in Q1. Intriguingly, Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global cut the biggest stake of the 450+ funds we monitor, valued at about $276.2 million in stock.. David Stemerman’s fund, Conatus Capital Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $69.1 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What have insiders been doing with Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB). These stocks are FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:FTI), Cameron International Corporation (NYSE:CAM), Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI), National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV), and Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL). This group of stocks are the members of the oil & gas equipment & services industry and their market caps match SLB’s market cap.