Hedge Funds Are Buying KB Financial Group, Inc. (ADR) (KB)

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Consequently, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Clough Capital Partners, managed by Charles Clough, established the biggest position in KB Financial Group, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:KB). Clough Capital Partners had $0.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Muller’s PDT Partners also initiated a $0.4 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new KB investors: Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to KB Financial Group, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:KB). We will take a look at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc (NYSE:HOT), Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG), and POSCO (ADR) (NYSE:PKX). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to KB’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
HOT 47 3609055 -15
WFM 33 427258 1
HOG 24 692912 -3
PKX 12 106347 1

As you can see these stocks had an average of 29 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.21 billion. That figure was just $22 million in KB’s case. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc (NYSE:HOT) is the most popular stock in this table, while POSCO (ADR) (NYSE:PKX) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks KB Financial Group, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:KB) is even less popular than PKX. 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.

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