Do Hedge Funds Love Lazard Ltd (LAZ)?

Judging by the fact that Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ) has faced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few money managers who sold off their entire stakes in the third quarter. Interestingly, Andrew Sandler’s Sandler Capital Management dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $13.5 million in stock, and Michael Messner’s Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt) was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $1.2 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ). These stocks are OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE), 58.com Inc (ADR) (NYSE:WUBA), Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB), and Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to LAZ’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 26.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $507 million. That figure was $562 million in LAZ’s case. Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE) is the least popular one with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ) is as less popular as OGE. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.