On Monday, CNBC reported that among the 20 most widely held stocks by institutional investors in the second quarter, just two were energy stocks, Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX). That is down from three in the first quarter when Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was also on the list.
“The percentage of institutional funds that owned Chevron dropped 40 basis points during the quarter, down to 12.53 percent from 12.93 percent. But the recent shift away from the energy stocks begs the question of whether they were oversold,” notes CNBC.
One of the factors energy ETFs like XLE and IXC is that some professional investors are short the ETFs’ holdings. For example, earlier this year, noted short seller Jim Chanos, president and founder of Kynikos Associates, said he is short oil giants Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) and Dow component Chevron (NYSE: CVX).
iShares Global Energy ETF
