Is Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (CNQ) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Is Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) a buy?

At the moment, there are many metrics shareholders can use to track Mr. Market. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Just as useful, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of reasons for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

Thus, we’re going to study the newest info about Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ).

What have hedge funds been doing with Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 23 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -18% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management had the largest position in Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ), worth close to $750.6 million, comprising 6.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Highfields Capital Management’s heels is First Eagle Investment Management, managed by Matt McLennan, which held a $743.5 million position; 2.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital, Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC and Daniel Bubis’s Tetrem Capital Management.

Due to the fact Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) has experienced bearish sentiment from the top-tier hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of money managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely last quarter. Intriguingly, Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital dumped the biggest position of the 450+ funds we key on, valued at an estimated $282.9 million in stock. Michael Kaufman’s fund, MAK Capital One, also said goodbye to its stock, about $39.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 5 funds last quarter.

Insider trading activity in Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ)

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ). These stocks are Devon Energy Corp (NYSE:DVN), Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU), Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC), Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA), and EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG). This group of stocks are the members of the independent oil & gas industry and their market caps are closest to CNQ’s market cap.