MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE) was in 5 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. MGEE has experienced a decrease in hedge fund interest recently. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with MGEE holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
At the moment, there are dozens of metrics market participants can use to track Mr. Market. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).
Just as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a glance at the recent action regarding MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE).
How have hedgies been trading MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -17% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the biggest position in MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE), worth close to $1.8 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $1.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.
Due to the fact that MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE) has witnessed declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there were a few fund managers that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. At the top of the heap, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group sold off the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, worth close to $0.3 million in stock. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds last quarter.
How are insiders trading MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE)?
Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE). These stocks are Just Energy Group, Inc. Ordinary Shares (Canada) (NYSE:JE), CH Energy Group Inc (NYSE:CHG), Avista Corp (NYSE:AVA), NorthWestern Corp (NYSE:NWE), and Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR). This group of stocks are the members of the diversified utilities industry and their market caps match MGEE’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Just Energy Group, Inc. Ordinary Shares (Canada) (NYSE:JE) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| CH Energy Group Inc (NYSE:CHG) | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Avista Corp (NYSE:AVA) | 11 | 0 | 7 |
| NorthWestern Corp (NYSE:NWE) | 11 | 1 | 0 |
| Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) | 6 | 0 | 3 |
With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE) is an important part of this process.
