Do Hedge Funds Love Bunge Ltd (BG)?

Because Bunge Ltd (NYSE:BG) has witnessed declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedgies who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management said goodbye to the biggest stake of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $102.8 million in stock, and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $17.7 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 5 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Bunge Ltd (NYSE:BG). These stocks are American Water Works Co., Inc. (NYSE:AWK), Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN), Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR), and EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to BG’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 38 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $812 million. That figure was $1.07 billion in BG’s case. Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand American Water Works Co., Inc. (NYSE:AWK) is the least popular one with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Bunge Ltd (NYSE:BG) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard LEN might be a better candidate to consider a long position.