Do Hedge Funds Love Torchmark Corporation (TMK)?

As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, initiated the biggest position in Torchmark Corporation (NYSE:TMK). Citadel Investment Group had $44.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made an $16.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments, and Daniel Lascano’s Lomas Capital Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Torchmark Corporation (NYSE:TMK) but similarly valued. These stocks are CDW Corp (NASDAQ:CDW), Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX), Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY), and Vereit Inc (NYSE:VER). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to TMK’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 26.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $627 million. That figure was $548 million in TMK’s case. Vereit Inc (NYSE:VER) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Torchmark Corporation (NYSE:TMK) 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 VER might be a better candidate to consider a long position.