Is The Kroger Co. (KR) the Right Stock for Your Portfolio?

Now, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. OZ Management, led by Daniel S. Och, created the most outsized position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR). OZ Management had $14.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Adam Weiss’s Stillwater Investment Management also initiated a $12 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Gregg Moskowitz’s Interval Partners, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates, and Leighton Welch’s Welch Capital Partners.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR). We will take a look at Carnival plc (ADR) (NYSE:CUK), Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL), and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:CTSH). This group of stocks’ market values resemble KR’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 28 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.09 billion, which is higher than the $946 million in KR’s case. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:CTSH) is the most popular stock in this table, while Carnival plc (ADR) (NYSE:CUK) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:CTSH) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.