The worries about the economic slowdown in China and the ongoing uncertainty about the path of interest-rate increases triggered several waves of equity sell-offs during the third quarter. Of course, most hedge funds and other asset managers had to stomach substantial losses during the bloody three-month period, which might have caused some to consider fleeing the U.S. equity markets. Interestingly, smaller-cap stocks registered higher losses than large-capitalization stocks during the September quarter, suggesting that institutional investors heavily discarded seemingly riskier equities amid high uncertainty and turmoil. In fact, the Russell 2000 Index lost 11.9% in the third quarter, while the Standard and Poor’s 500 benchmark declined a mere 6.4%. This article will lay out and discuss the hedge fund and institutional investor sentiment towards NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE).
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) investors should pay attention to an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately. At the end of this article we will also compare NEE to other stocks including Infosys Ltd ADR (NYSE:INFY), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), and E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Nextera Energy Inc (NYSE:NEE)
Follow Nextera Energy Inc (NYSE:NEE)
To the average investor there are numerous metrics shareholders put to use to analyze their stock investments. A duo of the less known metrics are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can beat the market by a healthy amount (see the details here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s take a peek at the latest action regarding NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE).
How have hedgies been trading NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 43 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 13% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management has the most valuable position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE), worth close to $227.2 million, comprising 0.4% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson of Adage Capital Management, with a $197 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining professional money managers that are bullish encompass Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management, David Gallo’s Valinor Management LLC and Jonathan Barrett and Paul Segal’s Luminus Management.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Zimmer Partners, managed by Stuart J. Zimmer, initiated the most outsized position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE). Zimmer Partners had $51.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Marc Lisker, Glenn Fuhrman and John Phelan’s MSDC Management also initiated a $49.6 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new NEE investors: Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, George Soros’s Soros Fund Management, and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) but similarly valued. These stocks are Infosys Ltd ADR (NYSE:INFY), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD), and The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to NEE’s market value.
Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
---|---|---|---|
INFY | 19 | 892333 | 2 |
NFLX | 57 | 6509142 | 7 |
DD | 41 | 2844709 | -5 |
BK | 49 | 5803948 | -13 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 41.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $4,013 million. That figure was $1,811 million in NEE’s case. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Infosys Ltd ADR (NYSE:INFY) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard NFLX might be a better candidate to consider a long position.