Here is What Hedge Funds Think About El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (EPB)

El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EPB) was in 7 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. EPB investors should pay attention to an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late. There were 4 hedge funds in our database with EPB holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are tons of gauges investors can use to track stocks. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can outclass the market by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of reasons for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a look at the key action surrounding El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EPB).

How are hedge funds trading El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EPB)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 75% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

Of the funds we track, Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, holds the largest position in El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EPB). Driehaus Capital has a $10.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Halcyon Asset Management, managed by John Bader, which held a $1.3 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Andrew R. Midler’s Savitr Capital, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, assembled the most outsized position in El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EPB). Driehaus Capital had 10.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Andrew R. Midler’s Savitr Capital also made a $1.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Scott Scher & Michael Prober’s Clovis Capital Management.

How have insiders been trading El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EPB)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EPB) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EPB). These stocks are Oneok Partners LP (NYSE:OKS), Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE:MMP), Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EEP), Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (NYSE:KMR), and Pembina Pipeline Corp (NYSE:PBA). This group of stocks are the members of the oil & gas pipelines industry and their market caps resemble EPB’s market cap.

With the returns shown by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EPB) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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