Should You Buy Harman International Industries Inc/DE/ (HAR)?

Now, some big names have jumped into Harman International Industries Inc/DE/ (NYSE:HAR) headfirst. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management initiated the largest position in Harman International Industries Inc./DE/ (NYSE:HAR). Balyasny Asset Management had $37.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $28.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new HAR positions are Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Harman International Industries Inc/DE/ (NYSE:HAR). These stocks are Panera Bread Co (NASDAQ:PNRA), RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR), Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI), and Voya Financial Inc (NYSE:VOYA). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to HAR’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 28 funds from our database with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $511 million at the end of September. By comparison, that figure was $607 million in HAR’s case. Voya Financial Inc (NYSE:VOYA) is the most popular stock in this table, while RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) is the least popular one with only 17 investors holding shares. Harman International Industries Inc/DE/ (NYSE:HAR) 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 Voya Financial Inc (NYSE:VOYA) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.