Hedge Funds Poured Into the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) (IBB) in Q3

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Citadel Investment Group established the largest call position in the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) (NASDAQ:IBB). Citadel Investment Group had $89.4 million invested in the ETF at the end of the quarter. Alan Howard’s Brevan Howard also initiated a $24 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new IBB positions are Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners, Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Capital, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) (NASDAQ:IBB). These stocks are American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG), Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX), Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL), and Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA). This group of stocks’ market caps match IBB’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $526 million. That figure was $238 million in IBB’s case. Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) (NASDAQ:IBB) 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 recently. In this regard LMCA might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None