Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE:WEC) has seen a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.
To the average investor, there are a multitude of indicators investors can use to watch stocks. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can trounce the broader indices by a superb amount (see just how much).
Just as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. There are lots of stimuli for an insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a look at the recent action encompassing Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE:WEC).
Hedge fund activity in Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE:WEC)
Heading into 2013, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -23% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.
Of the funds we track, David Harding’s Winton Capital Management had the most valuable position in Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE:WEC), worth close to $31 million, accounting for 0.8% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which held a $20 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.
Since Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE:WEC) has experienced a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes heading into 2013. It’s worth mentioning that Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies cut the biggest stake of all the hedgies we monitor, totaling an estimated $10 million in stock.. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s fund, Arrowstreet Capital, also cut its stock, about $3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds heading into 2013.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE:WEC)?
Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE:WEC) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 6 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 Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE:WEC). These stocks are DTE Energy Co (NYSE:DTE), Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR), The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES), Calpine Corporation (NYSE:CPN), and Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (ADR) (NYSE:CIG). This group of stocks are the members of the electric utilities industry and their market caps resemble WEC’s market cap.
