Xcel Energy Inc (XEL): Smart Money Ownership Continues to Dreadfully Lag Peers

Because Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL) has encountered a decline in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of money managers that slashed their full holdings in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management dropped the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at about $2.2 million in stock, and Michael Platt and William Reeves’ BlueCrest Capital Mgmt. was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.6 million worth of shares.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL). These stocks are Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST), Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc (NYSE:HLT), Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY), and Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR). All of these stocks’ market caps match XEL’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 41 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.10 billion. That figure was $433 million in XEL’s case. Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) is the least popular one with only 27 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL) is even less popular than WY. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: None