Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (CBI): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Is Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI) worth your attention right now? Hedge funds are becoming hopeful. The number of long hedge fund bets improved by 3 lately.

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI)In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of methods investors can use to monitor Mr. Market. Some 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 investment managers can outpace the broader indices by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action encompassing Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI).

What does the smart money think about Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 41 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 8% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

Of the funds we track, Berkshire Hathaway, managed by Warren Buffett, holds the largest position in Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI). Berkshire Hathaway has a $404.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.5% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Steadfast Capital Management, managed by Robert Pitts, which held a $227.9 million position; the fund has 6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital.

Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI) headfirst. Berkshire Hathaway, managed by Warren Buffett, established the largest position in Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI). Berkshire Hathaway had 404.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital also made a $90.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CBI positions are David Stemerman’s Conatus Capital Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Siddharth Thacker ‘s Signpost Capital.

How are insiders trading Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI). These stocks are Pike Electric Corporation (NYSE:PIKE), MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG), Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX), Emcor Group Inc (NYSE:EME), and Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR). This group of stocks are in the 0 industry and their market caps resemble CBI’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Pike Electric Corporation (NYSE:PIKE) 13 0 0
MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG) 16 0 5
Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX) 7 0 5
Emcor Group Inc (NYSE:EME) 20 0 8
Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR) 35 0 15

With the results shown by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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