Air Lease Corp (AL): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Due to the fact that Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL) has faced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there exists a select few money managers who sold off their full holdings in the third quarter. Intriguingly, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group dumped the largest stake of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $20.6 million in stock, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $9.2 million worth of AL shares. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL). These stocks are Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT), Virtu Financial Inc (NASDAQ:VIRT), Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY), and Horizon Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:HZNP). This group of stocks’ market valuations match AL’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 23 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $362 million. That figure was $511 million in AL’s case. Horizon Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:HZNP) is the most popular stock in this table, while Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY) is at the other end of the specter with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard HZNP might be a better candidate to consider a long position.