Do Hedge Funds Love First Bancorp (FBNC)?

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Now that we’ve mentioned the most bullish investors, let’s also take a look at some funds that said goodbye to their entire stakes in the stock during the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Anton Schutz’s Mendon Capital Advisors said goodbye to the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds studied by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $2.8 million in stock, and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.9 million worth of shares.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC). These stocks are Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR), NanoString Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NSTG), DICE HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE:DHX), and Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:TNK). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to FBNC’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
WSR 7 11132 -1
NSTG 21 100355 9
DHX 17 28977 0
TNK 9 61883 -5

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $51 million. That figure was $27 million in FBNC’s case. NanoString Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NSTG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) 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 NSTG might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None

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