How Synchrony Financial (SYF) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

Since Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) has witnessed falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers who were dropping their entire stakes by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management said goodbye to the biggest position of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling about $410.8 million in stock. Barry Rosenstein’s fund, JANA Partners, also cut its stock, about $111 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 12 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF). We will take a look at Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA), Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE:WPZ), Southern Copper Corp (NYSE:SCCO), and ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG). This group of stocks’ market values match SYF’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 27 funds with long positions at the end of September and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.16 billion. That figure was $4.02 billion in SYF’s case. ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) is the most popular stock in this table with 50 funds reporting ownership. On the other hand Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE:WPZ) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) 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 ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Disclosure: None