Should You Buy YPF SA (ADR) (YPF)?

YPF SA (ADR) (NYSE:YPF) has experienced an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately.

At the moment, there are a multitude of methods market participants can use to analyze stocks. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can beat the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Just as important, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of incentives for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the latest action encompassing YPF SA (ADR) (NYSE:YPF).

What have hedge funds been doing with YPF SA (ADR) (NYSE:YPF)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 16% from one quarter earlier.

Consequently, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Knighthead Capital, managed by Tom Wagner and Ara Cohen, assembled the biggest position in YPF SA (ADR) (NYSE:YPF). Knighthead Capital had 30.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $17.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Michael Weinstock’s Monarch Alternative Capital, Bruce J. Richards and Louis Hanover’s Marathon Asset Management, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

What have insiders been doing with YPF SA (ADR) (NYSE:YPF)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, YPF SA (ADR) (NYSE:YPF) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results exhibited by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and YPF SA (ADR) (NYSE:YPF) applies perfectly to this mantra.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds