Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Choice Hotels International Inc (CHH): 88% Surge in Ownership

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As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Marshall Wace LLP, led by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, established the most valuable position in Choice Hotels International Inc (NYSE:CHH). Marshall Wace LLP had $1.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new CHH investors: Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Michael Platt and William Reeves’ BlueCrest Capital Mgmt., and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Choice Hotels International Inc (NYSE:CHH) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDTI), Medidata Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDSO), Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:PAG), and RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble CHH’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
IDTI 25 311391 -1
MDSO 16 83886 7
PAG 12 72913 -4
RLJ 9 105389 2

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 $143 million. That figure was $110 million in CHH’s case. Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDTI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Choice Hotels International Inc (NYSE:CHH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds love the most relative to similar stocks. In this regard IDTI might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None

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