Is Wright Medical Group Inc (WMGI) A Good Stock To Buy?

Hedge funds run by legendary names like Nelson Peltz and David Tepper make billions of dollars a year for themselves and their super-rich accredited investors (you’ve got to have a minimum of $1 million liquid to invest in a hedge fund) by spending enormous resources on analyzing and uncovering data about small-cap stocks that the big brokerage houses don’t follow. Small caps are where they can generate significant out-performance. That’s why we pay special attention to hedge fund activity in these stocks.

Is Wright Medical Group Inc (NASDAQ:WMGI) worth your attention right now? Money managers are reducing their bets on the stock. The number of long hedge fund positions were trimmed by 5 recently. At the end of this article we will also compare WMGI to other stocks including istar Inc (NYSE:STAR), Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE), and Franklin Street Properties Corp. (NYSEAMEX:FSP) to get a better sense of its popularity.

Now, we’re going to check out the recent action encompassing Wright Medical Group Inc (NASDAQ:WMGI).

Hedge fund activity in Wright Medical Group Inc (NASDAQ:WMGI)

At Q3’s end, a total of 23 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -18% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, OrbiMed Advisors, managed by Samuel Isaly, holds the largest position in Wright Medical Group Inc (NASDAQ:WMGI). OrbiMed Advisors has a $166 million position in the stock, comprising 1.7% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Ken Fisher of Fisher Asset Management, with a $48 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining members of the smart money with similar optimism consist of Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Management, William Leland Edwards’s Palo Alto Investors and Noah Levy and Eugene Dozortsev’s Newtyn Management.

Seeing as Wright Medical Group Inc (NASDAQ:WMGI) has experienced bearish sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there were a few fund managers who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital dumped the biggest investment of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $19.5 million in stock. Thomas Steyer’s fund, Farallon Capital, also dumped its stock, about $15.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 5 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Wright Medical Group Inc (NASDAQ:WMGI). We will take a look at istar Inc (NYSE:STAR), Bankrate Inc (NYSE:RATE), Franklin Street Properties Corp. (NYSEAMEX:FSP), and Physicians Realty Trust (NYSE:DOC). All of these stocks’ market caps match WMGI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $137 million. That figure was $460 million in WMGI’s case. istar Inc (NYSE:STAR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Franklin Street Properties Corp. (NYSEAMEX:FSP) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Wright Medical Group Inc (NASDAQ:WMGI) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.