Hedge Funds Are Buying American National Insurance Company (ANAT)

As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Citadel Investment Group, led by Ken Griffin, established the biggest position in American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT). Citadel Investment Group had $1.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also made a $0.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new ANAT position is Thomas Bailard’s Bailard Inc.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Cabot Corp (NYSE:CBT), Outfront Media Inc (NYSE:OUT), Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN), and Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR). All of these stocks’ market caps match ANAT’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $238 million. That figure was $30 million in ANAT’s case. Cabot Corp (NYSE:CBT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks American National Insurance Company (NASDAQ:ANAT) is even less popular than RYN. 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.

Disclosure: None