Is Hess Corp. (HES) A Good Stock To Buy?

Because Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) has witnessed unchanged sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s important to look at the funds that slashed their positions entirely heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management cut the largest position of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $123.9 million in stock, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $26.6 million worth of shares. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) but similarly valued. These stocks are Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES), Devon Energy Corp (NYSE:DVN), Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO), and M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to HES’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 29 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $680 million. That figure was $1.58 billion in HES’s case. Devon Energy Corp (NYSE:DVN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) is the least popular one with only 20 bullish hedge fund positions. Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard DVN might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Disclosure: none.