Is Bank Mutual Corporation (BKMU) A Good Stock to Buy?

Earlier we told you that the aggregate hedge fund interest in the stock was unchanged and we view this as a negative development. Even though there weren’t any hedge funds dumping their holdings during the third quarter, there weren’t any hedge funds initiating brand new positions either. This indicates that hedge funds, at the very best, perceive this stock as dead money and they haven’t identified any viable catalysts that can attract investor attention.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU) but similarly valued. These stocks are Corenergy Infrastructure Trust Inc (NYSE:CORR), Digimarc Corp (NASDAQ:DMRC), Protagonist Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PTGX), and Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble BKMU’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $58 million. That figure was $16 million in BKMU’s case. Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Protagonist Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PTGX) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU) 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 RIGL might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None