In this article, we talk about the 15 stocks with the biggest hedge fund momentum.
On February 23, Bloomberg News reported that during the week ended February 19, hedge funds registered record-high net sales of global stocks, the highest since early April 2025. Despite the selling spree, hedge funds maintained solid performance in early 2026, a period characterized by choppy markets and including the worst single-day drop for three major fund strategies since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Prime Services Desk said, “All major regions were net sold, led by North America and Europe. Single stocks and macro products were both net sold and made up 58% and 42% of the total notional net selling, respectively, both led by short sales.”
Meanwhile, JPMorgan told its clients in a note that hedge funds bought the largest tech stocks last week, according to a Reuters report from February 24. Hedge funds also bought shares in companies considered vulnerable to advances in artificial intelligence. Software stocks saw some buying after being sold down by historic amounts the week before, JPMorgan added.
Goldman Sachs also said that hedge fund leverage is nearing its highest level in a year, noting that net sales orders in global equities hit their highest level since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a barrage of import tariffs last April.
With that said, here is the list of the 15 stocks with the biggest hedge fund momentum.
Photo by Patrick Weissenberger on Unsplash
Our Methodology
We compiled a list of stocks of companies that saw the biggest jump in the number of hedge funds invested in them as per Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database. To do that, we included companies with at least 15 hedge fund holders in Q4 2025, then sorted them by the number of hedge funds they gained from Q3 2025 to Q4 2025.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
Note: All pricing data is as of market close on February 25, 2026.
15. Cogent Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q4 2025: 69 (+25 from Q3 2025)
Cogent Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT) is one of the 15 stocks with the biggest hedge fund momentum, after gaining 25 hedge fund holders during the fourth quarter of 2025. On February 18, Piper Sandler analysts raised their price target on Cogent Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT) t0 $52 from $39. According to these analysts, who maintained an Overweight rating on Cogent Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT), their $13 increase on the price target is justified by the company’s shift toward regulatory approvals and commercial readiness following fourth-quarter 2025 results.
Piper Sandler noted that Cogent Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT) submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for bezuclastinib in non-advanced systemic mastocytosis, with acceptance expected this month. The drug is positioned for potential approval and launch in the second half of 2026. The company also plans to submit an NDA for second-line gastrointestinal stromal tumors in April and an advanced systemic mastocytosis NDA in the first half of 2026. Given these developments, the company’s focus now turns to execution as it moves toward commercialization, according to the analysts.
Cogent Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:COGT) is a biotechnology company that develops precision therapies for genetically defined diseases.
14. Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q4 2025: 95 (+26 from Q3 2025)
Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) is one of 15 stocks with the biggest hedge fund momentum, after gaining 26 hedge fund holders during the fourth quarter of 2025. On February 23, Morgan Stanley increased the price target on Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) to $520 from $420, while retaining the stock’s Equal Weight rating, citing the increasing speed of investment in AI data centers.
According to Morgan Stanley analysts, optical markets are set to grow to more than $65 billion by 2028 from about $30 billion in 2025. Morgan Stanley also projects the addition of $23 billion to the total addressable market for optical products from companies like Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE), driven by the anticipated adoption of new optical technologies as traditional networks reach their limits. The analysts’ price target change followed a similar action from Mizuho, which also increased its price target on Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) to $645 from $525 on February 17, while retaining the stock’s current Outperform rating.
Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) provides optical and photonic products. It operates through two segments: Cloud and Networking, which deals with optical and photonic components, modules, and subsystems, and Industrial Tech, which includes solid-state lasers, kilowatt-class fiber lasers, ultrafast lasers, diode lasers, and gas lasers.
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