How do we determine whether Evercore Inc. (NYSE:EVR) makes for a good investment at the moment? We analyze the sentiment of a select group of the very best investors in the world, who spend immense amounts of time and resources studying companies. They may not always be right (no one is), but data shows that their consensus long positions have historically outperformed the market when we adjust for known risk factors.
Evercore Inc. (NYSE:EVR) shares haven’t seen a lot of action during the third quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 22 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2018. 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 F.N.B. Corp (NYSE:FNB), Sabra Health Care REIT Inc (NASDAQ:SBRA), and Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) to gather more data points.
According to most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, old financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8,000 funds with their doors open at the moment, We look at the top tier of this club, around 700 funds. These investment experts handle most of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by monitoring their matchless picks, Insider Monkey has revealed a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s flagship hedge fund strategy defeated the S&P 500 index by 6 percentage points annually since its inception in May 2014 through early November 2018. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 24% since February 2017 (through December 3rd) even though the market was up nearly 23% during the same period. We just shared a list of 11 short targets in our latest quarterly update.
Let’s go over the new hedge fund action regarding Evercore Inc. (NYSE:EVR).
Hedge fund activity in Evercore Inc. (NYSE:EVR)
At Q3’s end, a total of 22 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, representing no change from the second quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 18 hedge funds with a bullish position in EVR at the beginning of this year. So, let’s see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically, Renaissance Technologies was the largest shareholder of Evercore Inc. (NYSE:EVR), with a stake worth $99.3 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Millennium Management, which amassed a stake valued at $43.8 million. Daruma Asset Management, Junto Capital Management, and GLG Partners were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
Seeing as Evercore Inc. (NYSE:EVR) has faced a decline in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there exists a select few fund managers that elected to cut their entire stakes heading into Q3. At the top of the heap, Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital sold off the largest investment of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $9.5 million in stock. Steve Cohen’s fund, Point72 Asset Management, also cut its stock, about $5.9 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Evercore Inc. (NYSE:EVR) but similarly valued. We will take a look at F.N.B. Corp (NYSE:FNB), Sabra Health Care REIT Inc (NASDAQ:SBRA), Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), and Stamps.com Inc. (NASDAQ:STMP). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to EVR’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| FNB | 12 | 52228 | 0 |
| SBRA | 9 | 58109 | -3 |
| YELP | 30 | 1018373 | 4 |
| STMP | 38 | 600765 | 6 |
| Average | 22.25 | 432369 | 1.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 22.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $432 million. That figure was $273 million in EVR’s case. Stamps.com Inc. (NASDAQ:STMP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sabra Health Care REIT Inc (NASDAQ:SBRA) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Evercore Inc. (NYSE:EVR) 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 STMP might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
