What’s a smart Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL) investor to do?
To many of your fellow readers, hedge funds are assumed to be overrated, outdated investment vehicles of an era lost to time. Although there are over 8,000 hedge funds trading in present day, this site looks at the elite of this group, close to 525 funds. It is assumed that this group oversees the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total assets, and by paying attention to their highest performing stock picks, we’ve deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).
Equally as useful, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. There are a variety of incentives for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s discuss the newest info about Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL).
Hedge fund activity in Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL)
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 23% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management had the biggest position in Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL), worth close to $24.6 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Millennium Management’s heels is Glenn Russell Dubin of Highbridge Capital Management, with a $24.1 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include David Harding’s Winton Capital Management, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.
As one would understandably expect, specific money managers have jumped into Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL) headfirst. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, created the largest position in Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL). Millennium Management had 24.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also initiated a $24.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are David Harding’s Winton Capital Management, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL)?
Insider buying is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL). These stocks are FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE), Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP), Edison International (NYSE:EIX), Huaneng Power International Inc (ADR) (NYSE:HNP), and Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (ADR) (NYSE:EOC). All of these stocks are in the electric utilities industry and their market caps match XEL’s market cap.
