Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Investors Bancorp, Inc. (ISBC)

Since Investors Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISBC) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few hedgies who sold off their positions entirely in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management said goodbye to the biggest investment of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling about $37 million in stock, and Paul Orlin and Alex Porter’s Amici Capital was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $27.8 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 8 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Investors Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISBC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at King Digital Entertainment PLC (NYSE:KING), Orbital ATK Inc (NYSE:OA), ICON plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:ICLR), and Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB). This group of stocks’ market caps match ISBC’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 24.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $355 million. That figure was $690 million in ISBC’s case. Orbital ATK Inc (NYSE:OA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand King Digital Entertainment PLC (NYSE:KING) is the least popular one with only 18 bullish hedge fund positions. Investors Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISBC) 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 OA might be a better candidate to consider a long position.