Do Hedge Funds Love StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. (SFG)?

As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Carlson Capital, managed by Clint Carlson, created the largest position in StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SFG). Carlson Capital had $91.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management also initiated a $72 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Robert Emil Zoellner’s Alpine Associates, Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital, and John Orrico’s Water Island Capital.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SFG) but similarly valued. These stocks are Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN), Cameco Corporation (USA) (NYSE:CCJ), Michaels Companies Inc (NASDAQ:MIK), and Zillow Inc (NASDAQ:Z). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to SFG’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $765 million. That figure was $438 million in SFG’s case. Zillow Inc (NASDAQ:Z) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) is the least popular one with only 21 bullish hedge fund positions. StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SFG) 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 Z might be a better candidate to consider a long position.