HCI Group Inc (HCI): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Citadel Investment Group, led by Ken Griffin, initiated the most valuable position in HCI Group Inc (NYSE:HCI). Citadel Investment Group had $2.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management also made a $1.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as HCI Group Inc (NYSE:HCI) but similarly valued. These stocks are Emerge Energy Services LP (NYSE:EMES), Potbelly Corp (NASDAQ:PBPB), Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU), and Tactile Systems Technology Inc (NASDAQ:TCMD). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to HCI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of nine hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $22 million. That figure was $12 million in HCI’s case. Potbelly Corp (NASDAQ:PBPB) and Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) are the most popular stocks in this table. On the other hand Emerge Energy Services LP (NYSE:EMES) and Tactile Systems Technology Inc (NASDAQ:TCMD) are the least popular with only four bullish hedge fund positions. HCI Group Inc (NYSE:HCI) 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 PBPB or COHU might be better candidates to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: none