Is Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (IART) A Good Stock To Buy?

At Insider Monkey we follow around 730 of the best-performing investors and even though many of them lost money in the last several months, the history teaches us that over the long-run they still manage to beat the market, which is why it can be profitable for us to imitate their activity. Of course, even the best money managers can sometimes get it wrong, but following some of their picks gives us a better chance to outperform the crowd than picking a random stock and this is where our research comes in.

Is Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART) a healthy stock for your portfolio? Prominent investors are in a pessimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund bets fell by 3 in recent months. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as AVX Corporation (NYSE:AVX), Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS), and SM Energy Co. (NYSE:SM) to gather more data points.

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to view the new action encompassing Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART).

How have hedgies been trading Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -14% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, holds the most valuable position in Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART). Fisher Asset Management has a $32.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Steve Cohen of Point72 Asset Management, with a $27 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other members of the smart money that are bullish comprise Ira Unschuld’s Brant Point Investment Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Seeing as Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART) has witnessed a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there exists a select few fund managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes in the third quarter. Interestingly, Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s Healthcor Management LP cut the biggest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $26 million in stock. Christian Leone’s fund, Luxor Capital Group, also cut its stock, about $18.2 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART) but similarly valued. These stocks are AVX Corporation (NYSE:AVX), Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS), SM Energy Co. (NYSE:SM), and Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to IART’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $408 million. That figure was $135 million in IART’s case. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:ABG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand AVX Corporation (NYSE:AVX) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART) 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 ABG might be a better candidate to consider a long position.