Should You Avoid PNC Financial Services Group (PNC)?

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Seeing as PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) has witnessed a falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there was a specific group of fund managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Capital dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $19.6 million in stock, and Eric Halet and Davide Serra’s Algebris Investments was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $3.2 million worth of shares. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) but similarly valued. These stocks are Canadian National Railway (USA) (NYSE:CNI), General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD), NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE), and Infosys Ltd ADR (NYSE:INFY). This group of stocks’ market valuations is similar to PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC)’s market valuation.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
CNI 17 1296655 -4
GD 43 6049744 3
NEE 43 1811341 5
INFY 19 892333 2

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 31 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.51 billion. That figure was $1.30 billion in PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC)’s case. General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Canadian National Railway (USA) (NYSE:CNI) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. PNC Financial Services  Group (NYSE:PNC) 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, General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

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