Valero Energy Corporation (VLO): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months.

At the moment, there are many gauges investors can use to track the equity markets. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outperform the market by a solid margin (see just how much).

Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the world of equities. Obviously, there are lots of incentives for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the key action regarding Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO).

What does the smart money think about Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 56 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 6% from one quarter earlier.

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have jumped into Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) headfirst. Viking Global, managed by Andreas Halvorsen, established the most outsized position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO). Viking Global had 305.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Daniel Arbess’s Xerion also initiated a $25.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new VLO positions are Crispin Odey’s Odey Asset Management Group, Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management, and Steven Owsley’s Madison Street Partners.

How are insiders trading Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)?

Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 10 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO). These stocks are Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), Imperial Oil Limited (USA) (NYSEAMEX:IMO), Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC), Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO), and Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES). This group of stocks are in the oil & gas refining & marketing industry and their market caps are similar to VLO’s market cap.