What Hedge Funds Think About Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC)

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) is an interesting stock, in the fact that it has had a solid 2013 while operating in a wildly bullish sub-industry. Will it continue?

To the average investor, there are a multitude of gauges market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Equally as necessary, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are many motivations for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if investors understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s discuss the latest info surrounding Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC).

How have hedgies been trading Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 65 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 8% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

According to our 13F database, Kenneth Mario Garschina’s Mason Capital Management had the most valuable position in Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC), worth close to $435.8 million, comprising 8.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Highfields Capital Management, managed by Jonathon Jacobson, which held a $397.4 million position; the fund has 3.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Keith Meister’s Corvex Capital, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Now, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Mason Capital Management, managed by Kenneth Mario Garschina, initiated the biggest position in Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC). Mason Capital Management had 435.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management also made a $397.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Keith Meister’s Corvex Capital, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

What have insiders been doing with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC). These stocks are Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA), EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG), Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD), Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ), and Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU). This group of stocks belong to the independent oil & gas industry and their market caps are closest to APC’s market cap.

Using the results explained by Insider Monkey’s analyses, regular investors should always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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