Is Kemper Corporation (KMPR) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

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Since Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) has witnessed a bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers who sold off their positions entirely in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital sold off the biggest position of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $0.5 million in stock, and Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.5 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 fund in the third quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) but similarly valued. These stocks are InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC), Evercore Partners Inc. (NYSE:EVR), COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR), and Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD). This group of stocks’ market values is similar to Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR)’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
IDCC 19 294575 -5
EVR 19 112684 -3
SCOR 30 178273 9
BYD 27 469838 -2

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 24 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $264 million. That figure was $10 million in Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR)’s case. COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) is even less popular than InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC). Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case, more research is warranted.

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