Do Hedge Funds Love CME Group Inc (CME)?

Judging by the fact that CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME) has experienced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies that slashed their positions entirely in the third quarter. Intriguingly, Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital sold off the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $13.8 million in call options., and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $10.7 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME) but similarly valued. We will take a look at CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI), Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BAM), Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST), and Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble CME’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 38.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.86 billion. That figure was $980 million in CME’s case. CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BAM) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME) 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 CI might be a better candidate to consider a long position.