Do Hedge Funds Love Kimco Realty Corp (KIM)?

Since Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM) has witnessed a  declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there was a specific group of funds who sold off their entire stakes in the third quarter. Intriguingly, Renaissance Technologies dumped the biggest investment of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $17.7 million in stock. D E Shaw also dumped its stock, about $8.1 million worth of shares. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 7 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM). These stocks are Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX), Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU), Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL), and H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB). This group of stocks’ market valuations is similar to Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM)’s market valuation.

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 $1.15 billion. That figure was $111 million in Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM)’s case. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) is the least popular one with only 25 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM) is even less popular than Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL). Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case, more research is warranted.