Is Popular Inc (BPOP) a Good Buy?

Judging by the fact that Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP) has witnessed a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedgies that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. At the top of the heap, Peter Muller’s PDT Partners sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $6.3 million in stock. Jim Simons’s fund, Renaissance Technologies, also sold off its stock, about $4.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds last quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP). These stocks are Microsemi Corporation (NASDAQ:MSCC), Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL), Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE:NBR), and Tallgrass Energy GP LP (NYSE:TEGP). This group of stocks’ market valuations match BPOP’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $284 million. That figure was $709 million in BPOP’s case. Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Tallgrass Energy GP LP (NYSE:TEGP) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard WLL might be a better candidate to consider a long position.