Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (WHG)

Hedge Funds and other institutional investors have just completed filing their 13Fs with the Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing their equity portfolios as of the end of September. At Insider Monkey, we follow over 700 of the best-performing investors and by analyzing their 13F filings, we can determine the stocks that they are collectively bullish on. One of their picks is Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG), so let’s take a closer look at the sentiment that surrounds it in the current quarter.

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) was in 5 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund interest recently. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) 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 Pengrowth Energy Corp (USA) (NYSE:PGH), Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK), and Uniqure NV (NASDAQ:QURE) to gather more data points.

Follow Westwood Holdings Group Inc (NYSE:WHG)

At the moment, there are a lot of formulas shareholders can use to grade stocks. A pair of the most underrated formulas are hedge fund and insider trading interest. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can beat the market by a healthy margin (see the details here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the fresh action surrounding Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG).

What have hedge funds been doing with Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a drop of 17% from the second quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG). Royce & Associates has a $40.9 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Mario Gabelli of GAMCO Investors, with a $34.4 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other members of the smart money that are bullish consist of Renaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

We view hedge fund selling in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: Millennium Management. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn’t always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically, a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don’t think this is the case here because none of the 700+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) but similarly valued. These stocks are Pengrowth Energy Corp (USA) (NYSE:PGH), Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK), Uniqure NV (NASDAQ:QURE), and Nextera Energy Partners LP (NYSE:NEP). This group of stocks’ market values matches Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG)’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
PGH 6 3665 1
ANIK 13 54008 3
QURE 15 63948 -2
NEP 16 102687 1

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $56 million. That figure was $85 million in Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG)’s case. Nextera Energy Partners LP (NYSE:NEP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Pengrowth Energy Corp (USA) (NYSE:PGH) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE:WHG) is even less popular than Pengrowth Energy Corp (USA) (NYSE:PGH). Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.