The Smart Money is Optimistic on Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (BWP)

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (NYSE:BWP) has seen an increase in hedge fund interest lately.

There are many indicators investors can use to analyze the equity markets, but a couple of the most underrated are hedgie and insider trading sentiment. See, at Insider Monkey, our research has shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can beat the market by a significant market (see just how much).

Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock universe. As the old adage goes: there are many reasons for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Countless academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the recent action surrounding Boardwalk Pipeline.

Hedge fund activity: At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of six hedge funds held long positions in this stock, an increase of 20% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, some notable managers were upping their stakes considerably.

Cliff Asness increased his stake by a total of 5%, the largest of the funds we track, while Ken Griffin and the duo of Scott Scher and Michael Prober established new positions in the stock.

All in all, Jim Simons held the largest position in Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (NYSE:BWP), ahead of peers John Zaro, Ken Griffin, and Scher & Prober.

Insider trading activity: Since the beginning of 2012, the company has seen zero insider purchases or insider sales.

With the results demonstrated by our time-tested strategies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and this time is no different.

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Disclosure: none