Dun & Bradstreet Corp (DNB): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

As industry-wide interest jumped, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. D E Shaw, founded by David E. Shaw, initiated the most valuable call position in Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB). D E Shaw had $3.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also initiated a $3.3 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new DNB investors: David Harding’s Winton Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA), First American Financial Corp (NYSE:FAF), Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE:JLL), and Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to DNB’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 18 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $361 million. That figure was $237 million in DNB’s case. First American Financial Corp (NYSE:FAF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB) 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 FAF might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.

Disclosure: None