Hedge Funds Are Buying WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (WCG)

Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, created the biggest position in WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE:WCG). D E Shaw had $7.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital also initiated a $3.3 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new WCG investors: Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Mike Vranos’ Ellington, and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE:WCG). These stocks are Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO), Phillips 66 Partners LP (NYSE:PSXP), United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR), and Braskem SA (ADR) (NYSE:BAK). This group of stocks’ market values match WCG’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 16 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $385 million. That figure was $649 million in WCG’s case. United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Phillips 66 Partners LP (NYSE:PSXP) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE:WCG) is as popular as UTHR even though total value of hedge fund holdings is about half of UTHR’s total. Nevertheless, hedge funds collectively own more than 15% of WCG’s outstanding shares, which means they are three times overweight this stock, and you should consider taking a long position in the stock as well.

Disclosure: None