Hedge Funds Are Betting On Symetra Financial Corporation (SYA)

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have jumped into Symetra Financial Corporation (NYSE:SYA) headfirst. Water Island Capital, managed by John Orrico, created the most outsized position in Symetra Financial Corporation (NYSE:SYA), worth $75.4 million as mentioned before. Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital was the one who initiated the second most valuable stake in SYA over the third quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Springbok Capital, run by Gavin Saitowitz And Cisco J. Del Valle, and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Symetra Financial Corporation (NYSE:SYA) but similarly valued. These stocks are Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO), Highwoods Properties Inc (NYSE:HIW), Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN), and Sun Communities Inc (NYSE:SUI). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to SYA’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 19 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $259 million. That figure was $291 million in SYA’s case. Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) is the most popular stock in this table, while Sun Communities Inc (NYSE:SUI) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Symetra Financial Corporation (NYSE:SYA) 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 AGO might be a better candidate to consider a long position.