Is ZaZa Energy Corp (NASDAQ:ZAZA) a worthy investment now? The smart money is selling. The number of long hedge fund positions decreased by 1 lately.
At the moment, there are many metrics market participants can use to watch stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see just how much).
Just as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are a number of incentives for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a look at the key action regarding ZaZa Energy Corp (NASDAQ:ZAZA).
What does the smart money think about ZaZa Energy Corp (NASDAQ:ZAZA)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -17% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the most valuable position in ZaZa Energy Corp (NASDAQ:ZAZA), worth close to $0.2 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by GRT Capital Partners, managed by Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk, which held a $0.1 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, Scott Scher & Michael Prober’s Clovis Capital Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
Since ZaZa Energy Corp (NASDAQ:ZAZA) has faced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there was a specific group of funds who were dropping their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Intriguingly, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dropped the largest position of the 450+ funds we key on, valued at close to $0.3 million in stock., and Matthew Hulsizer of PEAK6 Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds at the end of the first quarter.
How are insiders trading ZaZa Energy Corp (NASDAQ:ZAZA)?
Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, ZaZa Energy Corp (NASDAQ:ZAZA) has experienced 3 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to ZaZa Energy Corp (NASDAQ:ZAZA). These stocks are BPZ Resources Inc (NYSE:BPZ), Eca Marcellus Trust I (NYSE:ECT), Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (NYSE:CRT), FX Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FXEN), and Emerald Oil Inc (NYSEAMEX:EOX). This group of stocks are the members of the oil & gas drilling & exploration industry and their market caps match ZAZA’s market cap.
