Do Hedge Funds Love Liberty Tax Inc (TAX)?

However, there also lies a certain “tier” of money managers who sold off their positions entirely last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Skylands Capital dumped the biggest investment of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $2.7 million in stock, and Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Liberty Tax Inc (NASDAQ:TAX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Insteel Industries Inc (NASDAQ:IIIN), Jones Energy Inc (NYSE:JONE), Aratana Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PETX), and AR Capital Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:AUMA). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to TAX’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $67 million. That figure was $50 million in TAX’s case. Aratana Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PETX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Jones Energy Inc (NYSE:JONE) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Liberty Tax Inc (NASDAQ:TAX) 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 PETX might be a better candidate to consider a long position.