Are Hedge Funds Losing Interest In Principal Financial Group Inc (PFG)?

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Due to the fact that Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there were a few hedgies that elected to cut their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group sold off the largest investment of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $76.1 million in stock, and Matthew Tewksbury of Stevens Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $10 million worth of shares. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG). We will take a look at Medivation Inc (NASDAQ:MDVN), Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP), Rogers Communications Inc. (USA) (NYSE:RCI), and C.R. Bard, Inc. (NYSE:BCR). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to PFG’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
MDVN 34 1157808 -5
AAP 44 1678166 10
RCI 15 134144 1
BCR 34 1272552 8

As you can see these stocks had an average of 32 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.06 billion. That figure was $164 million in PFG’s case. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Rogers Communications Inc. (USA) (NYSE:RCI) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Principal Financial Group Inc (NYSE:PFG) 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 a long position.

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