How Has Smart Money Been Trading Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (PPC)?

Due to the fact that Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there exists a select few money managers who sold off their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group sold off the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at about $22.6 million in stock. Larry Foley and Paul Farrell’s fund, Bronson Point Partners, also dropped its stock, about $5.8 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) but similarly valued. These stocks are Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN), Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCBK), Targa Resources Partners LP (NYSE:NGLS), and Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE:NFX). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to PPC’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 29 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $662 million, while in PPC’s case, this figure stands at $390 million. Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE:NFX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Targa Resources Partners LP (NYSE:NGLS) is the least popular one with only seven hedge funds holding shares. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) 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. Therefore, NFX might be a better candidate to consider a long position.