How Old Republic International Corporation (ORI) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

The market has been volatile due to elections and the potential of another Federal Reserve rate increase. Small cap stocks have been on a tear, as the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) has outperformed the larger S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 10 percentage points since the end of June. SEC filings and hedge fund investor letters indicate that the smart money seems to be getting back in stocks, and the funds’ movements is one of the reasons why small-cap stocks are red hot. In this article, we analyze what the smart money thinks of Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) and find out how it is affected by hedge funds’ moves.

Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Voya Financial Inc (NYSE:VOYA), Tegna Inc (NYSE:TGNA), and Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) to gather more data points.

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Keeping this in mind, we’re going to review the key action encompassing Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI).

Hedge fund activity in Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI)

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 23 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a boost of 15% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies has the biggest position in Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI), worth close to $58.3 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is AQR Capital Management, led by Cliff Asness, holding a $57.4 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions contain D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and Shawn Bergerson and Martin Kalish’s Waterstone Capital Management.

Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. HBK Investments, managed by David Costen Haley, established the most valuable position in Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI). According to its latest 13F filing, the fund had $2.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also initiated a $1.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ORI positions are Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital and Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI). These stocks are Voya Financial Inc (NYSE:VOYA), Tegna Inc (NYSE:TGNA), Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL), and Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI). This group of stocks’ market valuations match ORI’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 27 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $656 million. That figure was $234 million in ORI’s case. Voya Financial Inc (NYSE:VOYA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) is the least popular one with only 14 bullish hedge fund positions. Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) 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 VOYA might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Disclosure: none.