Is First Bancorp (FBP) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Since First Bancorp (NYSE:FBP) has witnessed falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedgies that decided to sell off their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Ryan Heslop and Ariel Warszawski’s Firefly Value Partners dumped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds watched by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $4.4 million in stock. Lee Munder’s fund, Lee Munder Capital Group, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.4 million worth.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to First Bancorp (NYSE:FBP). We will take a look at Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NYSE:NCI), Resolute Forest Products Inc (NYSE:RFP), EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:EZCH), and Crossamerica Partners LP (NYSE:CAPL). This group of stocks’ market values resemble FBP’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $131 million, which is lower than the $209 million in FBP’s case. Resolute Forest Products Inc (NYSE:RFP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Crossamerica Partners LP (NYSE:CAPL) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. First Bancorp (NYSE:FBP) 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 RFP might be a better candidate to consider a long position.