Is Getty Realty Corp. (GTY) A Good Stock to Buy?

As aggregate interest increased, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Citadel Investment Group, led by Ken Griffin, assembled the largest call position in Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY). Citadel Investment Group had $0.3 million invested in the position at the end of the quarter. Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management also initiated a $0.1 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new GTY position was Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) but similarly valued. These stocks are Avianca Holdings SA (ADR) (NYSE:AVH), Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE:BGG), American Railcar Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARII), and Aduro BioTech Inc (NASDAQ:ADRO). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to GTY’s market cap.

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 $159 million. That figure was $37 million in GTY’s case. Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE:BGG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Avianca Holdings SA (ADR) (NYSE:AVH) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) 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 BGG might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None