Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Westar Energy Inc (WR) Anymore

Because Westar Energy Inc (NYSE:WR) has faced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there is a sect of hedge funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes last quarter. Intriguingly, John Orrico’s Water Island Capital dropped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, valued at about $39.3 million in stock, and Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $13.6 million worth of WR shares. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds last quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Westar Energy Inc (NYSE:WR) but similarly valued. These stocks are Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX), Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (NYSE:HII), Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD), and Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble WR’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 30 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $564 million. That figure was $865 million in WR’s case. Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Westar Energy Inc (NYSE:WR) 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 RAD might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Disclosure: none.