What Do Hedge Funds Think of National Penn Bancshares (NPBC)?

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As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds have jumped into National Penn Bancshares (NASDAQ:NPBC) headfirst. Magnetar Capital, managed by Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser, assembled the most valuable position in National Penn Bancshares (NASDAQ:NPBC). Magnetar Capital had $43.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Orrico’s Water Island Capital also initiated a $23.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new NPBC positions are Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, John Thiessen’s Vertex One Asset Management, and Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to National Penn Bancshares (NASDAQ:NPBC). We will take a look at Retail Opportunity Investments Corp (NASDAQ:ROIC), Simpson Manufacturing Co, Inc. (NYSE:SSD), Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ:ARLP), and Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI). All of these stocks’ market caps match NPBC’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
ROIC 12 96612 2
SSD 8 185774 -2
ARLP 5 21423 -1
HI 20 70529 -1

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $94 million. That figure was $183 million in NPBC’s case. Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ:ARLP) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. National Penn Bancshares (NASDAQ:NPBC) 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 HI might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

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