Is Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE) a good stock to buy right now? We at Insider Monkey like to examine what billionaires and hedge funds think of a company before doing days of research on it. Given their 2 and 20 payment structure, hedge funds have more resources than the average investor. The funds have access to expert networks and get tips from industry insiders. They also have numerous Ivy League graduates and MBAs. Like everyone else, hedge funds perform miserably at times, but their consensus picks have historically outperformed the market after risk adjustments.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE) shareholders have witnessed an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:WBC), EQT GP Holdings LP (NYSE:EQGP), and American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) to gather more data points.
Follow Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (NYSE:ARE)
Follow Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (NYSE:ARE)
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to view the latest action surrounding Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE).
What does the smart money think about Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE)?
Heading into Q4, a total of 22 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 57% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies has the number one position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE), worth close to $24.2 million, amounting to 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is AEW Capital Management holding a $21.5 million position; the fund has 0.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Lee Munder’s Lee Munder Capital Group and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.
Consequently, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, initiated the largest position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE). Winton Capital Management had $10.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D E Shaw also initiated a $3.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners, George Hall’s Clinton Group, and Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE). We will take a look at WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:WBC), EQT GP Holdings LP (NYSE:EQGP), American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG), and W.P. Carey Inc. REIT (NYSE:WPC). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to ARE’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| WBC | 33 | 1264724 | 0 |
| EQGP | 5 | 18951 | 1 |
| AFG | 19 | 139146 | -2 |
| WPC | 11 | 108928 | -1 |
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 $383 million. That figure was $110 million in ARE’s case. WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:WBC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand EQT GP Holdings LP (NYSE:EQGP) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard WBC might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
