China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (SNP): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund sentiment of late.

In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of indicators shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the financial markets. There are a number of incentives for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors know what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a glance at the key action regarding China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP).

How are hedge funds trading China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the largest position in China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP). AQR Capital Management has a $9 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $5.9 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Brian Kelly’s Asian Century Quest, J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Judging by the fact that China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) has faced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there is a sect of hedgies who were dropping their positions entirely at the end of the year. Interestingly, Peter J. Eichler Jr.’s Aletheia Research and Management dumped the biggest investment of all the hedgies we watch, worth an estimated $1.8 million in stock.. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What have insiders been doing with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) has experienced 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 China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP). These stocks are BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP), Statoil ASA (ADR) (NYSE:STO), Eni SpA (ADR) (NYSE:E), TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT), and Ecopetrol S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:EC). This group of stocks belong to the major integrated oil & gas industry and their market caps resemble SNP’s market cap.