Is Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc (MAA) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Judging by the fact that Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, we can see that there exists a select few funds that slashed their entire stakes heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management dropped the biggest investment of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $9.5 million in stock. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also sold off its stock, about $3 million worth.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA) but similarly valued. These stocks are Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (NYSE:SNI), Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI), Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), and Crescent Point Energy Corp (NYSE:CPG). This group of stocks’ market values match MAA’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 23 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $429 million. That figure was $206 million in MAA’s case. Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Crescent Point Energy Corp (NYSE:CPG) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Mid America Apartment Communities Inc (NYSE:MAA) is even less popular than CPG. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: None