Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do? – Edison International (NYSE:EIX), PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest lately.

To the average investor, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Korea Electric Power Corporation

Just as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the stock market universe. There are a number of stimuli for an insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a gander at the key action surrounding Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP).

Hedge fund activity in Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP)

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 25% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.

Of the funds we track, Vinik Asset Management, managed by Jeffrey Vinik, holds the most valuable position in Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP). Vinik Asset Management has a $37 million position in the stock, comprising 1.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, which held a $10 million position; the fund has 0% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management.

Now, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, created the largest position in Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP). Millennium Management had 2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management also made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new KEP investors: Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors and William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management.

What have insiders been doing with Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP). These stocks are PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), Edison International (NYSE:EIX), PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL), Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED), and FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE). This group of stocks belong to the electric utilities industry and their market caps are similar to KEP’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) 14 0 7
Edison International (NYSE:EIX) 18 0 6
PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) 16 0 7
Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED) 15 1 0
FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) 14 0 10

With the returns exhibited by the aforementioned research, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:KEP) applies perfectly to this mantra.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds