The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the March quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge fund investors experienced strong gains on the back of a strong market performance, which certainly propelled them to adjust their equity holdings so as to maintain the desired risk profile. As a result, the relevancy of these public filings and their content is indisputable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC).
Is VOC a good stock to buy? VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC) has seen an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late. VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC) was in 3 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. The all time high for this statistic is 3. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. Our calculations also showed that VOC isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings).
If you’d ask most investors, hedge funds are perceived as worthless, outdated financial vehicles of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, Our experts look at the moguls of this group, around 850 funds. These investment experts have their hands on the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by paying attention to their top equity investments, Insider Monkey has spotted a number of investment strategies that have historically outrun Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy exceeded the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points annually since its inception in March 2017. Also, our monthly newsletter’s portfolio of long stock picks returned 206.8% since March 2017 (through May 2021) and beat the S&P 500 Index by more than 115 percentage points. You can download a sample issue of this newsletter on our website .
Peter Rathjens of Arrowstreet Capital
At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, an activist hedge fund wants to buy this $28 biotech stock for $50. So, we recommended a long position to our monthly premium newsletter subscribers. We go through lists like the 10 best battery stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our homepage. Now let’s go over the latest hedge fund action encompassing VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC).
Do Hedge Funds Think VOC Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
Heading into the second quarter of 2021, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 50% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards VOC over the last 23 quarters. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Renaissance Technologies has the number one position in VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC), worth close to $0.8 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital, with a $0.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other professional money managers that are bullish include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and . In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Renaissance Technologies allocated the biggest weight to VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC), around 0.001% of its 13F portfolio. Arrowstreet Capital is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 0.0007 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to VOC.
As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, established the largest position in VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC). Citadel Investment Group had $0.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $0.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKDA), Guardion Health Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GHSI), Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc. (NASDAQ:GIFI), Manhattan Bridge Capital, Inc (NASDAQ:LOAN), Village Bank and Trust Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:VBFC), Nabriva Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:NBRV), and Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble VOC’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| RKDA | 2 | 430 | 0 |
| GHSI | 2 | 792 | 0 |
| GIFI | 5 | 6946 | 0 |
| LOAN | 1 | 972 | 0 |
| VBFC | 1 | 968 | 0 |
| NBRV | 4 | 1339 | -1 |
| AEHR | 1 | 2641 | -3 |
| Average | 2.3 | 2013 | -0.6 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 2.3 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2 million. That figure was $2 million in VOC’s case. Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc. (NASDAQ:GIFI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Manhattan Bridge Capital, Inc (NASDAQ:LOAN) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. VOC Energy Trust (NYSE:VOC) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for VOC is 61. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 17.2% in 2021 through June 11th and still beat the market by 3.3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on VOC as the stock returned 23% since the end of Q1 (through 6/11) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
