Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) was in 28 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. CNQ shareholders have witnessed a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently. There were 31 hedge funds in our database with CNQ holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
At the moment, there are many indicators investors can use to monitor the equity markets. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can outperform the market by a significant margin (see just how much).
Just as integral, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Obviously, there are many reasons for an 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 impressive potential of this strategy if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).
Now, let’s take a glance at the latest action regarding Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ).
How are hedge funds trading Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 28 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -10% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.
Judging by the fact that Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there exists a select few hedgies that slashed their full holdings last quarter. Interestingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital dumped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, comprising about $163 million in stock., and Robert Pohly of Samlyn Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $61.6 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds last quarter.
Insider trading activity in Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ)
Insider buying is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) has seen zero unique insiders buying, 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 Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ). These stocks are Devon Energy Corp (NYSE:DVN), Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU), Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC), Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA), and EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG). All of these stocks are in the independent oil & gas industry and their market caps are similar to CNQ’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Devon Energy Corp (NYSE:DVN) | 45 | 0 | 2 |
| Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) | 32 | 0 | 0 |
| Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) | 60 | 0 | 1 |
| Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) | 41 | 5 | 1 |
| EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) | 40 | 0 | 6 |
With the returns exhibited by our studies, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
