Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (POT): What Should You Do?

Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund sentiment recently.

PotashTo the average investor, there are dozens of indicators market participants can use to watch stocks. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can outclass the broader indices by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Obviously, there are many incentives for an insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action surrounding Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT).

What have hedge funds been doing with Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 9% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management had the largest position in Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT), worth close to $392.5 million, accounting for 1.4% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Adage Capital Management, managed by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, which held a $354.8 million position; 1.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Daniel Bubis’s Tetrem Capital Management, and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers have jumped into Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) headfirst. First Eagle Investment Management, managed by Jean-Marie Eveillard, created the biggest position in Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT). First Eagle Investment Management had 392.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Philippe Jabre’s Jabre Capital Partners also made a $73.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new POT investors: Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Robert Bishop’s Impala Asset Management, and Anthony Giammalva’s Sound Energy Partners.

How have insiders been trading Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT). These stocks are CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF), Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU), Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON), Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS), and Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT). This group of stocks are in the agricultural chemicals industry and their market caps match POT’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) 40 0 3
Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU) 22 0 0
Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) 54 0 8
Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) 35 2 0
Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT) 10 0 0

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) is no exception.

See the 7 most bullish money managers:

No. 7:

Manager: Robert Bishop
Market value at end of last 13F filing period: $44,639,000
Activity:  New
Percentage of equity portfolio: 2.35%


No. 6:

Manager: Richard Chilton
Market value at end of last 13F filing period: $58,149,000
Activity:  -12.57%
Percentage of equity portfolio: 1.59%


No. 5:

Manager: Jim Simons
Market value at end of last 13F filing period: $58,410,000
Activity:  New
Percentage of equity portfolio: 0.17%


No. 4:

Manager: Philippe Jabre
Market value at end of last 13F filing period: $73,242,000
Activity:  New
Percentage of equity portfolio: 6.19%


No. 3:

Manager: Daniel Bubis
Market value at end of last 13F filing period: $150,574,000
Activity:  -2.61%
Percentage of equity portfolio: 4.52%


No. 2:

Manager: Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson
Market value at end of last 13F filing period: $354,834,000
Activity:  66.55%
Percentage of equity portfolio: 1.30%


No. 1:

Manager: Jean-Marie Eveillard
Market value at end of last 13F filing period: $392,519,000
Activity:  New
Percentage of equity portfolio: 1.40%