Here is What Hedge Funds Think About National Grid plc (ADR) (NGG)

National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG) was in 7 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. NGG has seen a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with NGG holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

To most market participants, hedge funds are seen as underperforming, old investment tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the elite of this group, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing equity investments, we have identified a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year 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 trumped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (check out a sample of our picks).

Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is another way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are a number of motivations for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the key action surrounding National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG).

How have hedgies been trading National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -22% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the largest position in National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG), worth close to $21.8 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, which held a $14.3 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Due to the fact that National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG) has experienced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there was a specific group of fund managers that elected to cut their full holdings at the end of the first quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Charles Clough’s Clough Capital Partners dropped the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we track, valued at close to $25.1 million in stock., and Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $0.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds at the end of the first quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time frame, National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG) has seen 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 National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG). These stocks are Western Gas Equity Partners LP (NYSE:WGP), ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE), EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT), Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE), and TransCanada Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TRP). This group of stocks are the members of the gas utilities industry and their market caps are similar to NGG’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG) is no exception.

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