Pfizer Inc. (PFE): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Seeing as Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies that decided to sell off their entire stakes heading into the fourth quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group dropped the biggest position of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $93.5 million in stock. Anand Parekh’s fund, Alyeska Investment Group, also cut its stock, about $57.8 million worth.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE). These stocks are Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD), Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA). This group of stocks’ market valuations match PFE’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 56 funds with bullish positions at the end of September and the average amount invested in these stocks was $4.33 billion. That figure was $5.50 billion in Pfizer’s case. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD) is the least popular one with only 32 bullish hedge fund positions. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) 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 Alibaba might be a better candidate to consider a long position.