Do Hedge Funds Love Apollo Group Inc (APOL)?

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With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers have jumped into Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL) headfirst. Gabriel Plotkin’s Melvin Capital Management established the most outsized call position in Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL). According to regulatory filings, the fund had $2.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also initiated a $0.4 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL). We will take a look at PharMerica Corporation (NYSE:PMC), Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB), First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE), and Liberty Braves Group (NASDAQ:BATRK). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to APOL’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
PMC 14 65037 -2
BHLB 11 35869 2
BUSE 11 22185 2
BATRK 29 268615 0

As you can see these stocks had an average of 16 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $98 million. That figure was $128 million in APOL’s case. Liberty Braves Group (NASDAQ:BATRK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BHLB) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL) 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 BATRK might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None


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