Do Hedge Funds Love Independence Realty Trust Inc (IRT)?

Intriguingly, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors cut the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, worth close to $0.4 million in stock, and Peter Muller’s PDT Partners was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Independence Realty Trust Inc (NYSEMKT:IRT). These stocks are Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB), Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ:BGFV), Furmanite Corporation (NYSE:FRM), and Jamba, Inc. (NASDAQ:JMBA). All of these stocks’ market caps match IRT’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $44 million. That figure was $81 million in IRT’s case. Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ:BGFV) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Independence Realty Trust Inc (NYSEMKT:IRT) 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 BGFV might be a better candidate to consider a long position.