Do Hedge Funds Love Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK)?

Judging by the fact that Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few hedgies that elected to cut their full holdings heading into Q4. Interestingly, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management cut the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $56.3 million in stock, and Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $41 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 9 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK). We will take a look at Enersis S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:ENI), Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE:UHS), CarMax, Inc (NYSE:KMX), and Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to VRSK’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 30.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $751 million. That figure was $724 million in VRSK’s case. Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE:UHS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Enersis S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:ENI) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) 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 UHS might be a better candidate to consider a long position.