Is Horace Mann Educators Corporation (HMN) a Good Stock to Buy?

Judging by the fact that Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN) has encountered falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there is a sect of hedge funds who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management cut the largest stake of all the investors tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $0.4 million in stock, and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.4 million worth of shares.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN). These stocks are Park National Corporation (NYSEAMEX:PRK), Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE:CEQP), Infoblox Inc (NYSE:BLOX), and Noah Holdings Limited (ADR) (NYSE:NOAH). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to HMN’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $129 million, versus $29 million in HMN’s case. Infoblox Inc (NYSE:BLOX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Park National Corporation (NYSEAMEX:PRK) is the least popular one with only four funds holding shares. Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN) 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 BLOX might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: none