Hedge fund activity in Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET)
At Q4’s end, a total of 66 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -6% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Glenview Capitalholds the biggest position in Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET). Glenview Capital has a $620.3 million position in the stock, comprising 3.5% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is AQR Capital Management, led by Cliff Asness, holding a $425.2 million position; the fund has 0.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other professional money managers with similar optimism comprise Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin’s Senator Investment Group, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global.
Due to the fact that Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET) has witnessed declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of funds that slashed their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Keith Meister’s Corvex Capital sold off the largest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $348.9 million in call options.. Daniel S. Och’s fund, OZ Management, also cut its call options., about $156.5 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds by the end of the third quarter.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET). We will take a look at CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI), China Telecom Corporation Limited (ADR) (NYSE:CHA), Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN), and Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble AET’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CI | 67 | 3968917 | -9 |
| CHA | 5 | 4466 | 1 |
| RTN | 35 | 1075426 | 4 |
| SU | 29 | 1386076 | 1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 34 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.61 billion. That figure was $3.25 billion in AET’s case. CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand China Telecom Corporation Limited (ADR) (NYSE:CHA) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CI might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
