Is Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (HPY) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Judging by the fact that Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY) has witnessed a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there was a specific group of fund managers who were dropping their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital said goodbye to the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, worth close to $2.2 million in stock. Wojciech Uzdelewicz’s fund, Espalier Global Management, also dropped its position, about $1.4 million worth.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY). We will take a look at Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:GGAL), Hawk Corporation (NYSE:HAWK), China Biologic Products Inc (NASDAQ:CBPO), and Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble HPY’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 19 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $168 million, versus $201 million in HPY’s case. Hawk Corporation (NYSE:HAWK) is the most popular stock in this table, while Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. (ADR) (NASDAQ:GGAL) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE:HPY) 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 HAWK might be a better candidate to consider a long position.