Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (VOD): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Due to the fact that Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there was a specific group of fund managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners dropped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $35.5 million in call options. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s fund, Marshall Wace LLP, also dropped its call options, about $23.4 million worth.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD). We will take a look at Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:COG), Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (USA) (NYSE:AEM), Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG), and Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble VOD’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 34 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.30 billion. That figure was $446 million in VOD’s case. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) 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 AAP might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None