Why Gains Registered by These Three Stocks on Tuesday May Be an Overreaction

Meanwhile, shares of Petroleo Brasileiro SA – Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) were up 3.49% on the back of rising oil prices and comments made by Joaquim Levy, Brazil’s finance minister, praising the firm for moving in the right direction in cost cutting and dealing with the corruption scandal. WTI Crude Oil is up nearly 2% today.

However, hedge funds were spooked during the second quarter by the issues hounding Petroleo Brasileiro SA – Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) as four fewer hedge funds were long in the stock by June 30, down to 31 investors. The aggregate value of their positions increased by 3.18% to $760.56 million, a relatively measly increase compared to the stock climbing 50.58% in the said quarter. Senator Investment Group, led by Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin, owned 20 million shares of Petrobras at the end of the second quarter.

Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXA) is up 1.74%, retracting from the 8% gain after it announced on Monday that it had retained Guggenheim Securities, LLC to study the possibility of selling one or more of its corporate assets. On Monday, the stock sunk by more than 14%. The studying of options to enhance shareholder value comes as Alexza said that they continue to move forward with their Staccato inhaled drug technology, which the firm sees value in. It should be noted, however, that hedge funds have shunned going long Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXA) in the second quarter as there were no reported shares owned by hedge funds we track by the end of June. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group dumped all of its 21,327 shares during the second quarter. Citadel, among hedge funds we track, was the sole investor in the stock in the first quarter.

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