First Citizens BancShares Inc. (FCNCA): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

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Since First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) has witnessed bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of money managers who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q4. Interestingly, Peter Muller’s PDT Partners cut the largest stake of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $0.7 million in stock, and Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.4 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA). We will take a look at Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM), American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:AM), Associated Banc Corp (NYSE:ASB), and Papa John’s Int’l, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to FCNCA’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
PDM 7 141889 -4
AM 5 11103 -1
ASB 12 142833 1
PZZA 12 113907 -1

As you can see these stocks had an average of 9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $102 million. That figure was $125 million in FCNCA’s case. Associated Banc Corp (NYSE:ASB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:AM) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is just 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 ASB might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

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