Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About bluebird bio Inc (BLUE) Anymore

Due to the fact that bluebird bio Inc (NASDAQ:BLUE) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there was a specific group of funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely last quarter. At the top of the heap, Jason Karp’s Tourbillon Capital Partners dropped the largest position of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, worth close to $42.1 million in stock, and John Burbank’s Passport Capital was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $36.2 million worth of shares. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 13 funds last quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as bluebird bio Inc (NASDAQ:BLUE) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL), Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV), ViaSat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT), and Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to BLUE’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $469 million. That figure was $323 million in BLUE’s case. Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) and Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV) are the most popular stocks in this table. On the other hand Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, bluebird bio Inc (NASDAQ:BLUE) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.