Should You Avoid Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET)?

Due to the fact that Investors Real Estate Trust (NYSE:IRET) has encountered a decline in interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there exists a select few hedgies who sold off their full holdings heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management cut the largest stake of all the hedgies studied by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $1.6 million in stock, and Clinton Group was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $0.3 million worth of shares.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Investors Real Estate Trust (NYSE:IRET) but similarly valued. These stocks are Leju Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:LEJU), Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VNDA), Douglas Dynamics Inc (NYSE:PLOW), and Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated (NASDAQ:CORT). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to IRET’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $88 million. That figure was $15 million in IRET’s case. Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VNDA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Leju Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:LEJU) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Investors Real Estate Trust (NYSE:IRET) 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 VNDA might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.