Is BHP Billiton plc (ADR) (BBL) A Good Stock To Buy?

Because BHP Billiton plc (ADR) (NYSE:BBL) has sustained declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedge funds that decided to sell off their full holdings heading into fourth quarter. Interestingly, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies sold off the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds studied by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $15.1 million in stock, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.8 million worth of shares.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as BHP Billiton plc (ADR) (NYSE:BBL) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG), Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL), Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN), and Canon Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:CAJ). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to BBL’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $938 million. That figure was $324 million in BBL’s case. Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Canon Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:CAJ) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. BHP Billiton plc (ADR) (NYSE:BBL) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CL might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None