Is United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) a great investment right now? Hedge funds are selling. The number of bullish hedge fund positions stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience
In the financial world, there are many metrics market participants can use to watch their holdings. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can beat the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Equally as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of incentives for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the key action surrounding United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X).
How are hedge funds trading United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, holds the largest position in United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X). D E Shaw has a $55 million call position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Philippe Jabre of Jabre Capital Partners, with a $49 million call position; 4.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.
Judging by the fact that United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there exists a select few fund managers that slashed their entire stakes heading into 2013. Interestingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital said goodbye to the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we track, totaling about $8 million in stock., and Dmitry Balyasny of Balyasny Asset Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $6 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
What do corporate executives and insiders think about United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s strategies, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) is an important part of this process.
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