Hedge Funds Pile Into Blackbaud, Inc. (BLKB): What Have They Uncovered?

As industry-wide interest jumped, key hedge funds have jumped into Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) headfirst. Night Owl Capital Management created the most valuable position in Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB). Night Owl Capital Management had $4.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. George Hall’s Clinton Group also initiated a $3.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new BLKB positions are Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Eldorado Gold Corp (USA) (NYSE:EGO), Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN), Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN), and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO). This group of stocks’ market caps match BLKB’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 26 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $490 million. That figure was $127 million in BLKB’s case. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) is even less popular than RYN. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: None