Is ProAssurance Corporation (PRA) A Good Stock To Buy?

Due to the fact that ProAssurance Corporation (NYSE:PRA) has faced a declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds who were dropping their entire stakes last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, comprising about $1.8 million in stock, and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $1.7 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as ProAssurance Corporation (NYSE:PRA) but similarly valued. These stocks are Valero Energy Partners LP (NYSE:VLP), Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN), Store Capital Corp (NYSE:STOR), and Texas Roadhouse Inc (NASDAQ:TXRH). This group of stocks’ market valuations is closest to ProAssurance Corporation (NYSE:PRA)’s market valuation.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 15 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $530 million. That figure was $126 million in ProAssurance Corporation (NYSE:PRA)’s case. Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Valero Energy Partners LP (NYSE:VLP) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. ProAssurance Corporation (NYSE:PRA) 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, Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.