We at Insider Monkey have gone over 700 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the SEC The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30th. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR) based on that data.
Is Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR) the right pick for your portfolio? The best stock pickers are taking an optimistic view. The number of long hedge fund positions went up by 2 recently. Our calculations also showed that agr isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In today’s marketplace there are many signals market participants can use to appraise their stock investments. Two of the most under-the-radar signals are hedge fund and insider trading interest. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see the details here).
Let’s take a gander at the recent hedge fund action encompassing Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR).
What have hedge funds been doing with Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2018, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 13% from one quarter earlier. By comparison, 11 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in AGR heading into this year. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Pzena Investment Management, managed by Richard S. Pzena, holds the largest position in Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR). Pzena Investment Management has a $84.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Electron Capital Partners, led by Jos Shaver, holding a $61.2 million position; the fund has 8.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other professional money managers that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and ZilvinasáMecelis’s Covalis Capital.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, established the largest position in Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR). Arrowstreet Capital had $4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also initiated a $1.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Bernard Lambilliotte’s Ecofin Ltd and Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR). We will take a look at Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX), Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC), Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY), and Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble AGR’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| DGX | 38 | 649415 | 9 |
| VMC | 35 | 1338856 | 1 |
| INCY | 37 | 3254536 | 0 |
| ETR | 27 | 1329530 | 6 |
| Average | 34.25 | 1643084 | 4 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 34.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.64 billion. That figure was $293 million in AGR’s case. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is the least popular one with only 27 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR) is even less popular than ETR. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
