Smart Money Adores Priceline Group Inc (PCLN) More Than Ever

Now, key money managers have jumped into Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) headfirst. Orbis Investment Management, managed by William B. Gray, assembled the largest position in Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN). Orbis Investment Management had $234.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Christopher James’ Partner Fund Management also initiated a $56.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new PCLN positions are Matthew Knauer and Mina Faltas’ Nokota Management, Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Capital, and Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Investment Corp.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN). These stocks are Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS), Rio Tinto plc (ADR) (NYSE:RIO), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble PCLN’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 44.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $5.15 billion. That figure was $7.08 billion in PCLN’s case. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a positive signal and though it isn’t quite as popular as Valeant, the sentiment for the two stocks is trending in opposite directions and it’s otherwise extremely popular compared to its market cap peers. Thus, it’s worth considering an addition of Priceline to one’s portfolio.