Is BP plc (ADR) (BP) A Good Stock To Buy?

As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds have jumped into BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) headfirst. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, assembled the most outsized position in BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP). Millennium Management had $117 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also made an $64.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new BP investors: Peter Muller’s PDT Partners, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA), Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY), China Life Insurance Company Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LFC), and Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to BP’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 51.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2,833 million. That figure was $968 million in BP’s case. Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand China Life Insurance Company Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LFC) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) 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 MA might be a better candidate to consider a long position.