What Smart Money Thinks about AvalonBay Communities Inc (AVB)?

Now that we’ve mentioned the most bullish investors, let’s also take a look at some funds that cut their entire stakes in the stock during the third quarter. Interestingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital cut the largest position of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling about $45.7 million in stock, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $14.2 million worth of shares.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as AvalonBay Communities Inc (NYSE:AVB) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS), Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR), and CRH PLC (ADR) (NYSE:CRH). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to AVB’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 39 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.88 billion, which is higher than the $512 million figure in AVB’s case. Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) is the most popular stock in this table with 72 funds holding shares. On the other hand CRH PLC (ADR) (NYSE:CRH) is the least popular one with only eight bullish hedge fund positions. AvalonBay Communities Inc (NYSE:AVB) 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 Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.