Should You Follow the Smart Money Stampede Out of Equity One, Inc. (EQY)?

Judging by the fact that Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies that decided to sell off their full holdings heading into Q4. Interestingly, Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management said goodbye to the largest position of all the investors monitored by Insider Monkey, worth about $4.3 million in stock, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $2.7 million worth of shares.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY). We will take a look at Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX), Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ADR) (NYSE:ASR), Guidewire Software Inc (NYSE:GWRE), and Ubiquiti Networks Inc (NASDAQ:UBNT). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to EQY’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $266 million. That figure was $93 million in EQY’s case. Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ADR) (NYSE:ASR) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Equity One, Inc. (NYSE:EQY) 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 NBIX might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None