Is Essex Property Trust Inc (ESS) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Seeing as Essex Property Trust Inc (NYSE:ESS) has experienced a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedge funds who were dropping their positions entirely heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Ken Heebner’s Capital Growth Management sold off the largest investment of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $55.3 million in stock, and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $8.5 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Essex Property Trust Inc (NYSE:ESS) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW), Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP), National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV), and DTE Energy Co (NYSE:DTE). This group of stocks’ market caps resembles Essex Property Trust Inc (NYSE:ESS)’s market cap.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 31 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.06 billion. That figure was $289 million in Essex Property Trust Inc (NYSE:ESS)’s case. Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, DTE Energy Co (NYSE:DTE) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Essex Property Trust Inc (NYSE:ESS) 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, Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.