Should You Avoid Palo Alto Networks Inc (PANW)?

Now that we’ve mentioned the most bullish investors, let’s also take a look at some funds that cashed in their entire stakes in the stock during the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group cashed in the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds studied by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $33.7 million in call options. Dennis Puri and Oliver Keller’s fund, Hunt Lane Capital, also dropped its stock, about $16.1 million worth.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW). These stocks are Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX), SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:SKM), and Credicorp Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:BAP). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble PANW’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 24 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $675 million. That figure was $1.4 billion in PANW’s case. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:SKM) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW) 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 FCX might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None