Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP) has experienced an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.
In the financial world, there are dozens of metrics shareholders can use to monitor publicly traded companies. A duo of the best 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 investment managers can beat their index-focused peers by a solid amount (see just how much).
Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s take a gander at the key action surrounding Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP).
What does the smart money think about Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 17% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Passport Capital, managed by John Burbank, holds the biggest position in Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP). Passport Capital has a $11.4 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Moore Global Investments, managed by Louis Bacon, which held a $9.7 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Sean Cullinan’s Point State Capital and Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital.
As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Kingdon Capital, managed by Mark Kingdon, created the largest position in Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP). Kingdon Capital had 4.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.
How are insiders trading Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP). These stocks are Bill Barrett Corporation (NYSE:BBG), W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI), Key Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE:KEG), Crestwood Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:CMLP), and Hercules Offshore, Inc. (NASDAQ:HERO). All of these stocks are in the oil & gas drilling & exploration industry and their market caps are closest to SDLP’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Bill Barrett Corporation (NYSE:BBG) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Key Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE:KEG) | 18 | 6 | 1 |
| Crestwood Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:CMLP) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Hercules Offshore, Inc. (NASDAQ:HERO) | 19 | 0 | 1 |
With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned research, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP) is an important part of this process.
