While the market driven by short-term sentiment influenced by uncertainty regarding the future of the interest rate environment in the US, the low commodity prices and the economic turmoil in China, many smart money investors are keeping their optimism regarding the current bull run, while still hedging many of their long positions. However, as we know, big investors usually buy stocks with strong fundamentals, which is why we believe we can profit from imitating them. In this article, we are going to take a look at the smart money sentiment surrounding ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING).
ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING) has seen an increase in hedge fund interest recently. ING was in 13 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with ING positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare ING to other stocks including Prudential Public Limited Company (ADR) (NYSE:PUK), Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC), and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow I N G Groep N V (NYSE:ING)
Follow I N G Groep N V (NYSE:ING)
To most market participants, hedge funds are viewed as worthless, old investment tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation at the moment, Our experts hone in on the bigwigs of this group, approximately 700 funds. These money managers oversee bulk of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by following their best investments, Insider Monkey has deciphered various investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in their back tests.
With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the new action surrounding ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING).
How are hedge funds trading ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 86% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow’s Blue Mountain Capital has the largest position in ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING), worth close to $9.7 million, comprising 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Arrowstreet Capital, led by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, holding a $5 million position; less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining peers with similar optimism consist of Patrik Brummer’s Zenit Asset Management AB, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Blue Mountain Capital, managed by Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow, established the biggest position in ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING). Blue Mountain Capital had $9.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Patrik Brummer’s Zenit Asset Management AB also initiated a $4.9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING). We will take a look at Prudential Public Limited Company (ADR) (NYSE:PUK), Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), and BT Group plc (ADR) (NYSE:BT). This group of stocks’ market caps match ING’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PUK | 9 | 134604 | 0 |
| HMC | 10 | 60915 | 1 |
| F | 38 | 907228 | 2 |
| BT | 11 | 151176 | 1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $313 million. That figure was $31 million in ING’s case. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Prudential Public Limited Company (ADR) (NYSE:PUK) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard F might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
