Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Scorpio Tankers Inc. (STNG): Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NMM), Diana Shipping Inc. (DSX)

Is Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) a buy, sell, or hold? Money managers are getting more optimistic. The number of long hedge fund positions improved by 2 lately.

In the financial world, there are dozens of indicators investors can use to track the equity markets. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are a variety 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. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a glance at the key action surrounding Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG).

Hedge fund activity in Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG)

At year’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 20% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.

Of the funds we track, Kensico Capital, managed by Michael Lowenstein, holds the most valuable position in Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG). Kensico Capital has a $42 million position in the stock, comprising 1.3% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Israel Englander of Millennium Management, with a $13 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Daniel Gold’s QVT Financial, Michael Johnston’s Steelhead Partners and George Soros’s Soros Fund Management.

Consequently, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Soros Fund Management, managed by George Soros, initiated the biggest position in Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG). Soros Fund Management had 8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners also initiated a $1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new STNG positions are Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Insider trading activity in Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG)

Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) 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 Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG). These stocks are Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE:NMM), Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX), Seaspan Corporation (NYSE:SSW), Costamare Inc (NYSE:CMRE), and Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc (NYSE:MATX). This group of stocks belong to the shipping industry and their market caps are similar to STNG’s market cap.

With the returns exhibited by our tactics, everyday investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) is an important part of this process.

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