Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Brixmor Property Group Inc (BRX)

The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We at Insider Monkey have plowed through 821 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, a week after the market trough. In this article we look at what those investors think of Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX).

Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX) was in 28 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. BRX has seen an increase in hedge fund interest of late. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with BRX positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that BRX isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).

Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.

Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that a select group of hedge fund holdings outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by 58 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that’ll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 36% through May 18th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.

At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, 2020’s unprecedented market conditions provide us with the highest number of trading opportunities in a decade. So we are checking out stocks recommended/scorned by legendary Bill Miller. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. If you want to find out the best healthcare stock to buy right now, you can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. Now we’re going to analyze the latest hedge fund action surrounding Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX).

What does smart money think about Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 28 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 75% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards BRX over the last 18 quarters. So, let’s review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Renaissance Technologies has the largest position in Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX), worth close to $34.3 million, amounting to less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Carlson Capital, managed by Clint Carlson, which holds a $15.8 million position; the fund has 0.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism comprise Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, David Harding’s Winton Capital Management and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Hill Winds Capital allocated the biggest weight to Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX), around 1.45% of its 13F portfolio. Weld Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 0.63 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to BRX.

Consequently, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Balyasny Asset Management, managed by Dmitry Balyasny, initiated the most outsized position in Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX). Balyasny Asset Management had $2.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp also made a $1.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new BRX investors: Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, and Mike Vranos’s Ellington.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX) but similarly valued. These stocks are Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG), Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S. A. B. de C. V. (NYSE:ASR), Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI), and RBC Bearings Incorporated (NASDAQ:ROLL). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to BRX’s market cap.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

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 $186 million. That figure was $79 million in BRX’s case. Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S. A. B. de C. V. (NYSE:ASR) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE:BRX) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 8.3% in 2020 through the end of May but still beat the market by 13.2 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on BRX as the stock returned 21.9% in Q2 (through the end of May) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.