Is Universal Corp (UVV) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

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Now that we’ve mentioned the most bullish investors, let’s also take a look at some funds that dropped their entire stakes in the stock during the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital dropped the biggest position of all the investors studied by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $0.2 million in stock, and Mike Vranos’ Ellington was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.2 million worth of shares.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Universal Corp (NYSE:UVV) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Box Inc (NYSE:BOX), EP Energy Corp (NYSE:EPE), United Community Banks Inc (NASDAQ:UCBI), and TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR). This group of stocks’ market values match UVV’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
BOX 20 188758 7
EPE 15 18169 2
UCBI 12 106217 -7
TASR 12 49132 2

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 $91 million. That figure was $68 million in UVV’s case. Box Inc (NYSE:BOX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand United Community Banks Inc (NASDAQ:UCBI) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Universal Corp (NYSE:UVV) 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 BOX might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None

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