Should You Buy MB Financial, Inc. (MBFI)?

Since MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI) has weathered bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there were a few money managers who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, D E Shaw, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, dumped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds studied by Insider Monkey, comprising about $1.3 million in stock. Michael Platt and William Reeves’s fund, BlueCrest Capital Mgmt., also sold off its stock, about $0.2 million worth.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI). We will take a look at Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited (NYSE:AHL), Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:RARE), Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE), and PIMCO Dynamic Credit Income Fund (NYSE:PCI). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble MBFI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $101 million. That figure was $103 million in MBFI’s case. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:RARE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand PIMCO Dynamic Credit Income Fund (NYSE:PCI) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard RARE might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.