Pra Group Inc (PRAA): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Since Pra Group Inc (NASDAQ:PRAA) has experienced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of hedgies who sold off their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies dumped the biggest position of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising about $7.3 million in stock. Doug Gordon, Jon Hilsabeck and Don Jabro’s fund, Shellback Capital, also sold off its stock, about $5.3 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Pra Group Inc (NASDAQ:PRAA) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE), HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY), Impax Laboratories Inc (NASDAQ:IPXL), and CST Brands Inc (NYSE:CST). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to PRAA’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 24.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $480 million. That figure was $253 million in PRAA’s case. HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Pra Group Inc (NASDAQ:PRAA) 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 AWAY might be a better candidate to consider a long position.