Why These 5 Stocks Are Trading Lower On Tuesday

Another big loser on Tuesday was small cap Acacia Research Corp (NASDAQ:ACTG), which tumbled by more than 8.1% after Barclays’ Darrin Peller downgraded the stock to ‘Underweight’, cutting his price target to $4 from $12. Moreover, hedge funds are also becoming less constructive on Acacia Research Corp (NASDAQ:ACTG). Over the third quarter, the company lost the support of five of the funds we track, with only 11 funds reporting long positions. However, it should be noted that these 11 funds hold 13.5% of the company, while John W. Rogers’ Ariel Investments, the largest shareholder among them, boosted its exposure by 17% over the quarter, to more than 3.2 million shares.

Shares of Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) were also trading down, by roughly 4%, on Tuesday afternoon as aluminum prices continue to fall, and technicals go on to deteriorate. However, Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) is the only company in this list that saw the hedge fund interest increase over the last reported quarter. The number of long hedge fund stakes rose to 46 from 45 over the period, and Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group, which started its position with 52.27 million shares in the third quarter, held the largest of them all.

Finally, there’s General Motors Company (NYSE:GM). The stock of the famed automaker has declined by more than 3% after it reported disappointing December sales. Although the U.S. sales were up by an annual 5.7%, analysts at Bloomberg were expecting a 10% growth. General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is quite popular among hedge funds, with 88 funds among those we track having disclosed long stakes in the company as of the end of the third quarter – down from 104 at the end of the second quarter. However, these 88 funds owned 10.8% of the company’s outstanding stock. As many investors know, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway holds the largest stake in the automaker; after boosting its exposure by 22% over the third quarter, Berkshire declared holding 50 million shares of General Motors – or more than $1.5 billion in stock.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.