1 Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) Metric You Might Have Missed

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) was in 51 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. XOM investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 58 hedge funds in our database with XOM positions at the end of the previous quarter.

In today’s marketplace, there are many indicators shareholders can use to watch the equity markets. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a superb margin (see just how much).

Just as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are plenty of motivations for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a peek at the recent action regarding Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM).

What have hedge funds been doing with Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 51 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -12% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

Since Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedge funds that decided to sell off their full holdings last quarter. Interestingly, Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management dropped the biggest position of the 450+ funds we track, totaling an estimated $68.4 million in stock, and Ric Dillon of Diamond Hill Capital was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $36.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 7 funds last quarter.

What have insiders been doing with Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds