Hedge Funds Are Selling ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (ZIOP)

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Judging by the fact that ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP) has faced a falling interest from the smart money, we can see that there was a specific group of hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Dan Loeb’s Third Point dumped the largest stake of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $23.4 million in stock, and James Dinan’s York Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $5.1 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 6 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP) but similarly valued. We will take a look at NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB), THE CHEMOURS COMPANY (NYSE:CC), Granite Construction Inc. (NYSE:GVA), and Potlatch Corporation (NASDAQ:PCH). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP)’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
NBTB 5 11273 -1
CC 24 171776 14
GVA 17 58763 3
PCH 13 64274 3

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 15 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $77 million. That figure was $48 million in ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP)’s case. THE CHEMOURS COMPANY (NYSE:CC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP) 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, the CHEMOURS COMPANY (NYSE:CC) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

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