Here’s What Hedge Funds Think about Cowen Group Inc (COWN)

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We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: Mendon Capital Advisors. 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 in this case because none of the 700+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified COWN as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Cowen Group Inc (NASDAQ:COWN) but similarly valued. These stocks are Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK), Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND), Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK), and Myers Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MYE). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble COWN’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
GBNK 10 69502 0
ASND 12 154777 1
OSTK 12 83600 0
MYE 9 68835 0

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 funds with long positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $94 million. That figure was $120 million in COWN’s case. Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Myers Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MYE) is the least popular one with only nine bullish hedge fund positions. Cowen Group Inc (NASDAQ:COWN) 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 Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: none

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