Do Hedge Funds Love Vermilion Energy Inc (VET)?

Seeing as Vermilion Energy Inc (NYSE:VET) has witnessed a falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds that slashed their full holdings heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, D E Shaw cut the biggest position of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $2.7 million in stock. Matthew Tewksbury’s fund, Stevens Capital Management, also dumped its stock, about $0.2 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Vermilion Energy Inc (NYSE:VET) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL), Office Depot Inc (NASDAQ:ODP), and Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS). This group of stocks’ market valuations match Vermilion Energy Inc (NYSE:VET)’s market valuation.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 31 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $713 million. That figure was $9 million in Vermilion Energy Inc (NYSE:VET)’s case. Office Depot Inc (NASDAQ:ODP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, Vermilion Energy Inc (NYSE:VET) is even less popular than Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRL). Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case, more research is warranted.