Elite Hedgies Are Abandoning Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (ADR) (RBS)

Judging by the fact that Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (ADR) (NYSE:RBS) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers that slashed their positions entirely in the third quarter. It’s worth mentioning that John Thiessen’s Vertex One Asset Management said goodbye to the biggest position of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $47.8 million in stock, while Frank Brosens’ Taconic Capital was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $22.6 million worth of shares. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 7 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (ADR) (NYSE:RBS). We will take a look at Express Scripts Holding Company (NASDAQ:ESRX), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX), ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING), and Prudential Public Limited Company (ADR) (NYSE:PUK). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble RBS’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 28 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.96 billion. That figure was $8 million in RBS’s case. Express Scripts Holding Company (NASDAQ:ESRX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Prudential Public Limited Company (ADR) (NYSE:PUK) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (ADR) (NYSE:RBS) is even less popular than PUK. 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. Given the very bearish activity, we recommend investors look elsewhere for investment opportunities.