Is Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (OZRK) A Good Stock To Buy?

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Kensico Capital, managed by Michael Lowenstein, established the most valuable position in Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK). Kensico Capital had $76.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert I. Usdan and Wayne K. Goldstein’s Endicott Management also made a $65.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Shawn Bergerson and Martin Kalish’s Waterstone Capital Management, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX), Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO), Paramount Group Inc (NYSE:PGRE), and Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL). This group of stocks’ market values match OZRK’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 23.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $328 million. That figure was $365 million in OZRK’s case. Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Paramount Group Inc (NYSE:PGRE) is the least popular one with only 14 bullish hedge fund positions. Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK) 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 AKRX might be a better candidate to consider a long position.