A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY).
Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY) investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. At the end of this article we will also compare PNY to other stocks including Horizon Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:HZNP), Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE:SKT), and MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE:MTG) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Piedmont Natural Gas Co Inc (NYSE:PNY)
Follow Piedmont Natural Gas Co Inc (NYSE:PNY)
If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, outdated financial vehicles of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, Our experts choose to focus on the upper echelon of this group, approximately 700 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people direct bulk of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by shadowing their best stock picks, Insider Monkey has discovered several investment strategies that have historically outrun the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points annually for a decade in their back tests.
With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action regarding Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY).
How have hedgies been trading Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY)?
Heading into Q4, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 25% from the second quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management has the largest position in Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY), worth close to $12.4 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Water Island Capital, managed by John Orrico, which holds an $9.9 million position; the fund has 0.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other members of the smart money that are bullish comprise Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt.
On the next page, we analyze hedge fund activity of similarly priced stocks to get a better feel on what the elite funds think of Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY).
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY). These stocks are Horizon Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:HZNP), Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE:SKT), MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE:MTG), and LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPNT). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble PNY’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| HZNP | 44 | 1127993 | 1 |
| SKT | 10 | 198988 | -5 |
| MTG | 47 | 1337821 | -2 |
| LPNT | 26 | 275484 | 1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 32 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $735 million. That figure was $34 million in PNY’s case. MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE:MTG) is the most popular stock in this table, whereas, Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE:SKT) is the least popular one. Compared to these stocks Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY), with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions, shares the same popularity as SKT. To comprehend why the smart money isn’t behind this stock, more research is needed. This doesn’t necessarily mean it is not a good buying opportunity, it is possible that investors found it overvalued because they weren’t considering the bullish thesis. In any case, further research is advisable.
