National Grid plc (ADR) (NGG): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It But Hedge Funds Love It

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In today’s marketplace, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to track their holdings. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can beat the broader indices by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as necessary, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of reasons for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

What’s more, we’re going to analyze the latest info for National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG).

National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG)Hedge fund activity in National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG)

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 43% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management had the biggest position in National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG), worth close to $56.7 million, accounting for 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $29.8 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Now, certain money managers have been driving this bullishness. Adage Capital Management, managed by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, created the most outsized position in National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG). Adage Capital Management had 56.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also initiated a $29.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new NGG positions are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

What have insiders been doing with National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG). These stocks are Western Gas Equity Partners LP (NYSE:WGP), ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE), EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT), Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE), and TransCanada Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TRP). All of these stocks are in the gas utilities industry and their market caps match NGG’s market cap.

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