Hedge Funds Are Dumping Acacia Research Corporation (ACTG)

Seeing as Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG) has witnessed declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there exist a select few money managers who sold off their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Capital Management cut the biggest investment of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $1.6 million in stock. Anand Parekh’s fund, Alyeska Investment Group, also dumped its stock, about $1.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 5 funds last quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG). We will take a look at DTS Inc. (NASDAQ:DTSI), Gores Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:GRSHU),Banc of California Inc. (NASDAQ:BANC), and Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE:RNF). This group of stocks’ market caps match ACTG’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $85 million. That figure was $62 million in ACTG’s case. FirstBanc of California Inc (NASDAQ:BANC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE:RNF) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. In comparison, Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ACTG), with 11 bullish hedge fund positions, 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 are collectively most bullish on. In this case, BANC might be a better alternative.