Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB), an oilfield services company, had 55 hedge funds report a position- about even with the number who did for the third quarter of 2012. Fisher Asset Management, managed by billionaire Ken Fisher, had 7.8 million shares of Schlumberger in its portfolio (find Fisher's favorite stocks). While Schlumberger’s revenue was up moderately last quarter compared to the same period in 2011, earnings were down.
54 hedge funds and other notable investors owned supermajor Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), down from 59 at the end of September. Exxon Mobil- which at one point briefly overtook Apple to become the largest publicly traded U.S. company by market cap- is one of the top picks in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust’s portfolio. Research more stocks that the foundation's money is invested in.
Acquisition target Nexen Inc. (NYSE:NXY) was owned by 52 filers in our database, with others which we had previously recorded selling as the gap between the transaction price and the market price narrowed during the quarter as the proposed deal overcame Canadian regulatory hurdles. Learn more about merger arbitrage strategies.
We tracked 50 hedge funds who owned shares of Schlumberger’s smaller peer, Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL); Halliburton had actually been slightly more popular in our analysis for the third quarter, but was sold more frequently over the next three months. Billionaire Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors closed 2012 with 3.8 million shares in its portfolio (check out more stocks Cooperman liked).
See five more energy stocks that were popular among hedge funds:
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