Is BNC Bancorp (BNCN) A Good Stock To Buy?

Since BNC Bancorp (NASDAQ:BNCN) has faced a declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there were a few fund managers who sold off their entire stakes by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management dropped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds watched by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $0.3 million in stock. Chao Ku’s fund, Nine Chapters Capital Management, also dumped its stock, about $0.2 million worth of shares. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 fund by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to BNC Bancorp (NASDAQ:BNCN). We will take a look at Civitas Solutions Inc (NYSE:CIVI), E-House (China) Holdings Limited (ADR) (NYSE:EJ), Terreno Realty Corporation (NYSE:TRNO), and PHH Corporation (NYSE:PHH). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble BNC Bancorp (NASDAQ:BNCN)’s market cap.

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 $91 million. That figure was $97 million in BNC Bancorp (NASDAQ:BNCN)’s case. PHH Corporation (NYSE:PHH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Civitas Solutions Inc (NYSE:CIVI) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. BNC Bancorp (NASDAQ:BNCN) 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, PHH Corporation (NYSE:PHH) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.