Should You Buy Acacia Research Corporation (ACTG)?

As one would reasonably expect, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Marshall Wace LLP created the most outsized position in Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG). Marshall Wace LLP had $2.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management also made a $1.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ACTG positions are Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Investment Corp and Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG) but similarly valued. We will take a look at pdvWireless Inc (NASDAQ:PDVW), Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA), Preferred Apartment Communities Inc. (NYSEAMEX:APTS), and Sangamo Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGMO). This group of stocks’ market caps match ACTG’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $68 million. That figure was $56 million in ACTG’s case. Sangamo Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGMO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand pdvWireless Inc (NASDAQ:PDVW) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG) 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 SGMO might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None