Do Hedge Funds Love Republic Bancorp, Inc. KY (RBCAA)?

We view hedge fund selling in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: Basswood Capital. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn’t always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don’t think this is the case here because only one of the 700+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock (that fund was Millennium Management).

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Republic Bancorp, Inc. KY (NASDAQ:RBCAA) but similarly valued. These stocks are Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX), Harmonic Inc (NASDAQ:HLIT), GasLog Partners LP (NYSE:GLOP), and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc (NYSE:NGVC). All of these stocks’ market caps match Republic Bancorp, Inc. KY (NASDAQ:RBCAA)’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 $39 million. That figure was $16 million in Republic Bancorp, Inc. KY (NASDAQ:RBCAA)’s case. Argan, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:AGX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, GasLog Partners LP (NYSE:GLOP) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Republic Bancorp, Inc. KY (NASDAQ:RBCAA) is even less popular than GasLog Partners LP (NYSE:GLOP). Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case, more research is warranted.