In the financial world, there are dozens of gauges investors can use to track publicly traded companies. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Just as important, positive insider trading activity is another way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of reasons for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a glance at the key action regarding VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY).
What have hedge funds been doing with VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY)?
At year’s end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
Of the funds we track, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the most valuable position in VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY), worth close to $30 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Renaissance Technologies’s heels is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $11.2 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.
Because VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY) has witnessed falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers who sold off their full holdings at the end of the year. Interestingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital dumped the biggest stake of the 450+ funds we monitor, comprising about $0.3 million in stock.. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also sold off its call options., about $0.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY)?
Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, 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 VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY). These stocks are Triangle Petroleum Corporation (NYSEAMEX:TPLM), Quicksilver Resources Inc (NYSE:KWK), Matador Resources Co (NYSE:MTDR), Mid-Con Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:MCEP), and LRR Energy LP (NYSE:LRE). All of these stocks are in the independent oil & gas industry and their market caps match EGY’s market cap.
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| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Triangle Petroleum Corporation (NYSEAMEX:TPLM) | 8 | 1 | 3 |
| Quicksilver Resources Inc (NYSE:KWK) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Matador Resources Co (NYSE:MTDR) | 3 | 11 | 0 |
| Mid-Con Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:MCEP) | 2 | 6 | |
| LRR Energy LP (NYSE:LRE) | 1 | 2 | 5 |
With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned research, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
