Crude oil prices more than doubled in the trailing 12 months, yet hedge fund interest in the Energy sector has barely budged, inching up from 1.95% of the universe's exposure to 2.84%.
While Exxon Mobil has the largest number of funds invested, it now has more sellers than buyers. Chevron might soon be fund managers' favorite oil stock.
But the one name here to keep an eye on is Ovintiv, a Canadian-American exploration and distribution company. With barely 3% of Exxon's market cap, it has attracted 14 new buyers to only three exits as of the most recent round of 13-F filings, and 23 buys to 12 sells. And, with hedge funds owning 13.76% of the float, fund managers' opinions are going to matter more to Ovintiv's executives than to executives at some of the deeper wells.