Do you like to follow the buying trends of smart money investors? For a look at what hedge fund managers think about stocks of the utilities sector, we ran a screen.
We began by screening the utilities sector for stocks with strong upward momentum, trading within 5% of their 52-week high.
We then screened for those with bullish sentiment from institutional investors, with significant net institutional purchases over the last quarter representing at least 5% of share float. This indicates that institutional investors such as hedge fund managers and mutual fund managers expect these names to outperform into the future.
(click to enlarge)
Tool provided by Kapitall.
Do you think these stocks will break through to new highs? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.
List sorted by net institutional purchases over the last quarter as a percent of share float.
1. CH Energy Group Inc. (CHG): Engages in the electric utility, natural gas utility, and fuel distribution business. Market cap at $978.01M, most recent closing price at $65.67. The stock is currently trading 1.82% below its 52-week high. Net institutional purchases in the current quarter at 1.1M shares, which represents about 7.42% of the company's float of 14.82M shares.
2. PG&E Corp. (PCG): Operates as a public utility company that engages in electricity and natural gas distribution primarily in northern and central California. Market cap at $18.33B, most recent closing price at $43.58. The stock is currently trading 2.69% below its 52-week high. Net institutional purchases in the current quarter at 28.4M shares, which represents about 6.86% of the company's float of 413.75M shares.
3. Central Vermont Public Service Corp. (CV): Operates as an electric utility company in Vermont, the United States. Market cap at $479.8M, most recent closing price at $35.16. The stock is currently trading 1.61% below its 52-week high. Net institutional purchases in the current quarter at 823.5K shares, which represents about 6.59% of the company's float of 12.50M shares.
*Institutional data sourced from Fidelity, all other data sourced from Finviz.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
