Should You Buy Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY)?

As aggregate interest increased, some big names have jumped into Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) headfirst. Passport Capital, managed by John Burbank, created the most outsized call position in Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY). Passport Capital had $120.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s Healthcor Management LP also made a $66.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management, Christopher James’s Partner Fund Management, and Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY). We will take a look at United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (USA) (NYSE:TD). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to LLY’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 38 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.59 billion at the end of September. That figure was $2.89 billion in LLY’s case. United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Toronto-Dominion Bank (USA) (NYSE:TD) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.