Is China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) going to take off soon? The smart money is taking a bearish view. The number of bullish hedge fund bets stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience
To the average investor, there are plenty of indicators investors can use to monitor their holdings. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outclass the market by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to break down the stock market universe. There are plenty of stimuli for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the key action encompassing China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP).
How are hedge funds trading China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.
Judging by the fact that China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) has experienced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of funds that decided to sell off their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management said goodbye to the largest position of the 450+ funds we track, valued at about $0.9 million in stock., and David Costen Haley of HBK Investments was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
What have insiders been doing with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP). These stocks are BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP), Statoil ASA (ADR) (NYSE:STO), Eni SpA (ADR) (NYSE:E), TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT), and Ecopetrol S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:EC). This group of stocks are the members of the major integrated oil & gas industry and their market caps are similar to SNP’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) | 44 | 0 | 0 |
| Statoil ASA (ADR) (NYSE:STO) | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| Eni SpA (ADR) (NYSE:E) | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT) | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Ecopetrol S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:EC) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
With the returns shown by our strategies, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) is an important part of this process.
