Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About SunCoke Energy, Inc (SXC) Anymore

SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC) investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund sentiment in recent months.

According to most investors, hedge funds are seen as worthless, old financial tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the upper echelon of this club, close to 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the majority of the smart money’s total asset base, and by paying attention to their highest performing investments, we have unsheathed a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually 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 topped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a gander at the key action surrounding SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC).

What does the smart money think about SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -4% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

Of the funds we track, Daniel Lewis’s Orange Capital had the biggest position in SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC), worth close to $57.4 million, comprising 8% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Park West Asset Management, managed by Peter S. Park, which held a $43.8 million position; the fund has 4.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Michael Blitzer’s Kingstown Capital Management, Jay Petschek and Steven Major’s Corsair Capital Management and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital.

Judging by the fact that SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few funds that slashed their entire stakes at the end of the first quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Scott Scher & Michael Prober’s Clovis Capital Management sold off the largest position of the 450+ funds we key on, worth close to $6.5 million in stock.. Youlia Miteva’s fund, Proxima Capital Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $2.7 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds at the end of the first quarter.

How have insiders been trading SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time frame, SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC). These stocks are Grupo Simec S.A.B. de C.V. (ADR) (NYSEAMEX:SIM), Gibraltar Industries Inc (NASDAQ:ROCK), Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC), Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC), and Metals USA Holdings Corp (NYSE:MUSA). This group of stocks are in the steel & iron industry and their market caps are similar to SXC’s market cap.