Is United Bankshares, Inc. (UBSI) a Good Stock to Buy?

Consequently, key hedge funds have jumped into United Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBSI) headfirst. Millennium Management, led by Israel Englander, assembled the most valuable position in United Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBSI). Millennium Management had $5.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also made a $3.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new UBSI position is Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt..

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to United Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBSI). These stocks are GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME), Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE:WNR), Wintrust Financial Corp (NASDAQ:WTFC), and Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG). This group of stocks’ market valuations match UBSI’s market valuation.

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 $230 million. That figure was $39 million in UBSI’s case. GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks United Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBSI) is as less popular than HCSG. 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