Hedge Funds Are Selling Virtu Financial Inc (VIRT)

Since Virtu Financial Inc (NASDAQ:VIRT) has faced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of funds that slashed their positions entirely heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital dumped the biggest stake of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $9.8 million in stock, and Joseph A. Jolson’s Harvest Capital Strategies was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $6.8 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 6 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Virtu Financial Inc (NASDAQ:VIRT). We will take a look at Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY), Horizon Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:HZNP), Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE:SKT), and MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE:MTG). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to VIRT’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 28 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $675 million, which is significantly higher than the $73 million figure in VIRT’s case. MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE:MTG) is the most popular stock in this table, while Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Virtu Financial Inc (NASDAQ:VIRT) 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 MTG might be a better candidate to consider a long position.