The worries about the election and the ongoing uncertainty about the path of interest-rate increases have been keeping investors on the sidelines. Of course, most hedge funds and other asset managers have been underperforming main stock market indices since the middle of 2015. Interestingly though, smaller-cap stocks registered their best performance relative to the large-capitalization stocks since the end of the June quarter, suggesting that this may be the best time to take a cue from their stock picks. In fact, the Russell 2000 Index gained more than 15% since the beginning of the third quarter, while the Standard and Poor’s 500 benchmark returned less than 6%. This article will lay out and discuss the hedge fund and institutional investor sentiment towards EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG).
Is EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) a bargain? Investors who are in the know are buying. The number of long hedge fund bets advanced by 15 recently. At the end of this article we will also compare EOG to other stocks including Canadian National Railway (USA) (NYSE:CNI), BHP Billiton Limited (ADR) (NYSE:BHP), and Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Eog Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG)
Follow Eog Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG)
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How are hedge funds trading EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 51 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a 42% jump from the previous quarter, which lifted it back near its Q4 ownership level. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, OZ Management, managed by Daniel S. Och, holds the largest position in EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG). OZ Management has a $181.9 million call position in the stock, comprising 1% of its 13F portfolio. Other professional money managers that hold long positions include Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital, Ross Margolies’ Stelliam Investment Management, and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.
As aggregate interest increased, some big names have jumped into EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) headfirst. OZ Management established the most outsized call position in EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG). The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management, and Charles Clough’s Clough Capital Partners.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG). We will take a look at Canadian National Railway (USA) (NYSE:CNI), BHP Billiton Limited (ADR) (NYSE:BHP), Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC), and Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU). All of these stocks’ market caps match EOG’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNI | 17 | 1447565 | -4 |
| BHP | 19 | 253041 | 2 |
| HMC | 11 | 150009 | 3 |
| BIDU | 57 | 4125681 | 1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 26 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.49 billion. That figure was $1.28 billion in EOG’s case. Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard BIDU might be a better candidate to consider for a long position.
Disclosure: None
