Is Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (HBAN) A Good Stock To Buy?

Judging by the fact that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) has experienced a decline in interest from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there is a sect of hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes in the third quarter. Intriguingly, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dropped the largest stake of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $25 million in stock, and Peter Muller’s PDT Partners was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $6.4 million worth of shares. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN). These stocks are Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM), Vantiv Inc (NYSE:VNTV), Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC), and Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ:IEP). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to HBAN’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 26 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.55 billion. That figure was $113 million in HBAN’s case. Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ:IEP) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) 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 NEM might be a better candidate to consider a long position.