Is Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL) worth your attention right now? The best stock pickers are in a bearish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund positions were trimmed by 3 recently.
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Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. There are a variety of motivations for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a look at the latest action encompassing Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL).
What have hedge funds been doing with Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -11% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
According to our comprehensive database, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the biggest position in Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL), worth close to $101 million billion, comprising 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Balyasny Asset Management, managed by Dmitry Balyasny, which held a $100 million position; the fund has 2.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital, Wayne Cooperman’s Cobalt Capital Management and Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital.
Due to the fact that Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers who sold off their full holdings in Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates dropped the largest investment of the 450+ funds we track, worth close to $13 million in stock.. SAC Subsidiary’s fund, Sigma Capital Management, also dumped its stock, about $13 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds in Q4.
How have insiders been trading Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
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