How Weingarten Realty Investors (WRI) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: D E Shaw. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn’t always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don’t think this is the case in this case because only one of the 800+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock (that fund was Echo Street Capital Management).

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI). These stocks are Six Flags Entertainment Corp (NYSE:SIX), Michaels Companies Inc (NASDAQ:MIK), IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IAC), and AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN). This group of stocks’ market values match WRI’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 26.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1002 million. That figure was $62 million in WRI’s case. IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IAC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Michaels Companies Inc (NASDAQ:MIK) is the least popular one with only 23 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) is even less popular than MIK. 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.