Aduro BioTech Inc (ADRO) Rebounds After Allaying Listeriosis Fears

Because Aduro BioTech Inc (NASDAQ:ADRO) has experienced declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there were a few money managers that slashed their positions entirely heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group sold off the biggest position of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling about $1 million in call options underlying shares of Aduro. Griffin also closed a smaller long position. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Aduro BioTech Inc (NASDAQ:ADRO) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI), Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB), WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC), and MedAssets, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDAS). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to Aduro BioTech Inc (NASDAQ:ADRO)’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $100 million. That figure was $63 million in Aduro’s case. MedAssets, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDAS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Aduro BioTech Inc (NASDAQ:ADRO) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average for its market cap. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard MedAssets might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.