Is Umpqua Holdings Corp (UMPQ) More Than Just A Funny Name?

Now, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Blue Mountain Capital, managed by Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow, initiated the most valuable position in Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ). Blue Mountain Capital had $1.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Solomon Kumin’s Folger Hill Asset Management also initiated a $1 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new UMPQ investors: Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ). We will take a look at Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO), Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK), Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX), and Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble UMPQ’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 26.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $398 million. That figure was $198 million in UMPQ’s case. Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK) is the least popular one with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ) is even less popular than OZRK. 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 fully behind this stock yet, though sentiment is growing stronger. 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