Hedge Funds Are Selling Rice Energy Inc (RICE)

Due to the fact that Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE) has faced a falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of fund managers that slashed their positions entirely in the third quarter. Interestingly, Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital dumped the largest investment of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $27.9 million in stock. John Smith Clark’s fund, Southpoint Capital Advisors, also dropped its stock, about $22.9 million worth of shares. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE). These stocks are Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART), AVX Corporation (NYSE:AVX), Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS), and SM Energy Co. (NYSE:SM). This group of stocks’ market caps is similar to Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE)’s market cap.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 19 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $240 million. That figure was $485 million in Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE)’s case. Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, AVX Corporation (NYSE:AVX) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard, Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.