Astoria Financial Corp (AF): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

We already know that not all hedge funds are bullish on the stock and some hedge funds actually cashed in their positions entirely. Interestingly, Bernard Horn’s Polaris Capital Management cashed in the largest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $17 million in stock. John Orrico’s fund, Water Island Capital, also said goodbye to its stock, about $11.3 million worth.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Astoria Financial Corp (NYSE:AF). These stocks are SAGE Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SAGE), Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN), Park National Corporation (NYSEMKT:PRK), and Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE:CEQP). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble AF’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 10 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $83 million. That figure was $100 million in AF’s case. SAGE Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SAGE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Park National Corporation (NYSEMKT:PRK) is the least popular one with only four bullish hedge fund positions. Astoria Financial Corp (NYSE:AF) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is in-line with the 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 SAGE might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None