Hedge Funds Are Dumping Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (MSO)

Because Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE:MSO) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, we can see that there was a specific group of money managers that elected to cut their entire stakes by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, John Orrico’s Water Island Capital dropped the largest stake of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, valued at about $2.6 million in stock, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $1.7 million worth of shares. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 6 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE:MSO). These stocks are Mercantile Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:MBWM), Federated National Holding Co (NASDAQ:FNHC), Advaxis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADXS), and IDT Corporation (NYSE:IDT). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to MSO’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $60 million, slightly higher than the $43 million in MSO’s case. Advaxis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADXS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Mercantile Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:MBWM) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE:MSO) 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 ADXS might be a better candidate to consider a long position.