Hedge Funds Are Selling Medtronic PLC (MDT)

Seeing as Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there were a few fund managers that decided to sell off their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management said goodbye to the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $96 million in call options, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $50.4 million worth of options. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 7 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM), PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to MDT’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 48 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $6.16 billion. That figure was $1.29 billion in MDT’s case. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) 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 piling on. In this regard INTC might be a better candidate to consider a long position.