Is Hilltop Holdings Inc. (HTH) A Good Stock To Buy?

Seeing as Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) has faced a bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there lies a certain “tier” of funds who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Jeff Lignelli’s Incline Global Management sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $16.3 million in stock, and Rod Hinze’s KeyPoint Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $1.2 million worth of shares. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) but similarly valued. These stocks are Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B), Globus Medical Inc (NYSE:GMED), Terex Corporation (NYSE:TEX), and Knight Transportation (NYSE:KNX). This group of stocks’ market caps is closest to Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)’s market cap.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 20 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $120 million. That figure was $49 million in Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH)’s case. Globus Medical Inc (NYSE:GMED) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) 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, Globus Medical Inc (NYSE:GMED) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.