Is Primerica, Inc. (PRI) A Good Stock To Buy?

Because Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) has faced falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there were a few hedgies that decided to sell off their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Robert Jaffe’s Force Capital dropped the largest stake of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $16.4 million in stock. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s fund, Marshall Wace LLP, also cut its stock, about $10.9 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI). These stocks are Banco Macro SA (ADR) (NYSE:BMA), Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (ADR) (NYSE:CIG), Bloomin’ Brands Inc (NASDAQ:BLMN), and MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR). All of these stocks’ market caps match PRI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $256 million. That figure was $266 million in PRI’s case. Bloomin’ Brands Inc (NASDAQ:BLMN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (ADR) (NYSE:CIG) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI) 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 BLMN might be a better candidate to consider a long position.