Should You Follow Hedge Funds Out of Republic Services, Inc. (RSG)?

Because Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of money managers who sold off their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies sold off the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds watched by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $20.8 million in stock, and George Hall’s Clinton Group was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $2.3 million worth of shares. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG). These stocks are Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE:HIG), International Paper Company (NYSE:IP), and Realty Income Corp (NYSE:O). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to RSG’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 29.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $549 million. That figure was $485 million in RSG’s case. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE:HIG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Realty Income Corp (NYSE:O) is the least popular one with only 20 bullish hedge fund positions. Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) 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 HIG might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.

Disclosure: None