Hedge Funds Grow Bearish On Retail Properties of America Inc (RPAI): What Did They Find Out?

A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Retail Properties of America Inc (NYSE:RPAI).

Retail Properties of America Inc (NYSE:RPAI) was in 14 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2016. RPAI investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with RPAI positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Columbia Sportswear Company (NASDAQ:COLM), Embraer SA (ADR) (NYSE:ERJ), and Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE:TER) to gather more data points.

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How have hedgies been trading Retail Properties of America Inc (NYSE:RPAI)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a 26% fall from the previous quarter, giving up the gains witnessed during that quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards RPAI over the last 5 quarters. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, AEW Capital Management, led by Jeffrey Furber, holds the most valuable position in Retail Properties of America Inc (NYSE:RPAI). AEW Capital Management has a $66.8 million position in the stock, comprising 1.4% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Renaissance Technologies, founded by Jim Simons, holding a $52.2 million position. Remaining members of the smart money with similar optimism encompass Eduardo Abush’s Waterfront Capital Partners, David E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Greg Poole’s Echo Street Capital Management. We should note that none of these hedge funds are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.

We already know that not all hedge funds are bullish on the stock and some hedge funds actually sold off their positions entirely. Interestingly, Jonathan Litt’s Land & Buildings Investment Management sold off the largest position of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at about $3.1 million in stock. Jacob Gottlieb’s fund, Visium Asset Management, also sold off its stock, about $1.5 million worth.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Retail Properties of America Inc (NYSE:RPAI) but similarly valued. These stocks are Columbia Sportswear Company (NASDAQ:COLM), Embraer SA (ADR) (NYSE:ERJ), Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE:TER), and Dunkin Brands Group Inc (NASDAQ:DNKN). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to RPAI’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 18 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $265 million. That figure was $234 million in RPAI’s case. Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE:TER) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Embraer SA (ADR) (NYSE:ERJ) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Retail Properties of America Inc (NYSE:RPAI) 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 TER might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None