Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE) was in 8 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. CLNE has seen a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with CLNE holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, old financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds trading at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the aristocrats of this group, close to 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by monitoring their top picks, we have revealed a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (explore the details and some picks here).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are many incentives for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action regarding Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE).
Hedge fund activity in Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE)
At year’s end, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
Of the funds we track, David Gallo’s Valinor Management LLC had the biggest position in Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE), worth close to $9.2 million, comprising 0.4% of its total 13F portfolio. On Valinor Management LLC’s heels is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $4.7 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Sander Gerber’s Hudson Bay Capital Management.
Because Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE) has experienced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there were a few money managers that slashed their full holdings last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital said goodbye to the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we track, totaling about $0.5 million in stock., and Israel Englander of Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Insider trading activity in Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE)
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE). These stocks are Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC (NYSE:NKA), Laclede Group Inc (NYSE:LG), Summit Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:SMLP), PAA Natural Gas Storage, L.P. (NYSE:PNG), and Northwest Natural Gas Co (NYSE:NWN). This group of stocks belong to the gas utilities industry and their market caps resemble CLNE’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC (NYSE:NKA) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Laclede Group Inc (NYSE:LG) | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Summit Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:SMLP) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| PAA Natural Gas Storage, L.P. (NYSE:PNG) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Northwest Natural Gas Co (NYSE:NWN) | 5 | 0 | 3 |
With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s research, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
