TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT) investors should be aware of a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many methods market participants can use to watch the equity markets. A couple of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).
Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of reasons for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a look at the recent action encompassing TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT).
What does the smart money think about TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -20% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, International Value Advisers, managed by Charles de Vaulx, holds the biggest position in TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT). International Value Advisers has a $176.7 million position in the stock, comprising 4% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Michael Messner of Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt), with a $73 million position; the fund has 3.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Andrew Hall’s Astenbeck Capital Management, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
Because TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT) has witnessed a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there exists a select few hedgies that slashed their positions entirely in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Michael Messner’s Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt) sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies we key on, worth close to $104.2 million in stock., and John Overdeck and David Siegel of Two Sigma Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $1.7 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds in Q1.
How are insiders trading TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT)?
Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT) has experienced 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 TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT). These stocks are Statoil ASA (ADR) (NYSE:STO), Eni SpA (ADR) (NYSE:E), BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP), China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP), and Ecopetrol S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:EC). This group of stocks belong to the major integrated oil & gas industry and their market caps match TOT’s market cap.
