Do Hedge Funds Love Quanta Services Inc (PWR)?

Judging by the fact that Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of money managers that slashed their positions entirely heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management dropped the largest position of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $93.4 million in stock. Richard S. Meisenberg’s fund, ACK Asset Management, also dropped its stock, about $20.2 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 8 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (NASDAQ:ACHC), Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI), Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LPT), and Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (NYSE:ALSN). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to PWR’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 32.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $754 million. That figure was $489 million in PWR’s case. Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LPT) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR) 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 CRI might be a better candidate to consider a long position.