What do Hedge Funds Think of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (ANW)?

Hedge funds and large money managers usually invest with a focus on the long-term horizon and, therefore, short-lived dips on the charts, usually don’t make them change their opinion towards a company. This time it may be different. During the third quarter we observed increased volatility and small-cap stocks underperformed the market. Hedge fund investor letters indicated that they are cutting their overall exposure, closing out some position and doubling down on others. Let’s take a look at the hedge fund sentiment towards Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE:ANW) to find out whether it was one of their high conviction long-term ideas.

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE:ANW) has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately. ANW was in 14 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with ANW holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare ANW to other stocks including Arbutus Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ:ABUS), NACCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NC), and Egalet Corp (NASDAQ:EGLT) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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Now, we’re going to review the key action encompassing Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE:ANW).

How have hedgies been trading Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE:ANW)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 14 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -26% from the second quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Joel Ramin’s 12 West Capital Management has the number one position in Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE:ANW), worth close to $31.1 million, accounting for 4.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Richard Mashaal of Rima Senvest Management, with a $29.7 million position; the fund has 2.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions comprise Remy Trafelet’s Trafelet Capital, Matthew Taylor and Ty Popplewell’s Kortright Capital Partners and Marc Lehmann’s Riverloft Capital Management.

Seeing as Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE:ANW) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there were a few hedge funds that decided to sell off their full holdings in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management dropped the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $3.7 million in stock. Andy Redleaf’s fund, Whitebox Advisors, also said goodbye to its stock, about $1.9 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 5 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE:ANW) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Arbutus Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ:ABUS), NACCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NC), Egalet Corp (NASDAQ:EGLT), and Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corp (NASDAQ:PGC). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble ANW’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 8.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $60 million. That figure was $86 million in ANW’s case. Arbutus Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ:ABUS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand NACCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NC) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE:ANW) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio despite the slight drop in the total number of elite funds long the stock.