The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the September quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge fund investors experienced strong gains on the back of a strong market performance, which certainly propelled them to adjust their equity holdings so as to maintain the desired risk profile. As a result, the relevancy of these public filings and their content is indisputable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYPT).
Hedge fund interest in EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYPT) shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. 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 KVH Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KVHI), Fulgent Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLGT), and Community Bankers Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:ESXB) to gather more data points. Our calculations also showed that EYPT isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, old investment tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading today, Our experts choose to focus on the crème de la crème of this club, about 750 funds. These money managers preside over most of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by monitoring their finest picks, Insider Monkey has come up with a few investment strategies that have historically outrun the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 27.8% since February 2017 (through November 21st) even though the market was up more than 39% during the same period. We just shared a list of 7 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
David Harding of Winton Capital Management
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Discover is offering this insane cashback card, so we look into shorting the stock. One of the most bullish analysts in America just put his money where his mouth is. He says, “I’m investing more today than I did back in early 2009.” So we check out his pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We even check out this option genius’ weekly trade ideas. This December, we recommended Adams Energy as a one-way bet based on an under-the-radar fund manager’s investor letter and the stock already gained 20 percent. With all of this in mind we’re going to take a gander at the recent hedge fund action surrounding EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYPT).
What does smart money think about EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYPT)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2019, a total of 4 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards EYPT over the last 17 quarters. So, let’s see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Highland Capital Management, managed by James Dondero, holds the biggest position in EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYPT). Highland Capital Management has a $1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Highland Capital Management’s heels is Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, which holds a $0.2 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money with similar optimism consist of Renaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and . In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Highland Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYPT), around 0.06% of its 13F portfolio. Winton Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.0018 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to EYPT.
We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: Moore Global Investments. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn’t always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don’t think this is the case in this case because only one of the 800+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock (that fund was Winton Capital Management).
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYPT). We will take a look at KVH Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KVHI), Fulgent Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLGT), Community Bankers Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:ESXB), and HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOK). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to EYPT’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| KVHI | 5 | 14257 | 2 |
| FLGT | 5 | 4358 | 2 |
| ESXB | 3 | 18197 | -1 |
| HOOK | 6 | 33847 | 1 |
| Average | 4.75 | 17665 | 1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 4.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $18 million. That figure was $1 million in EYPT’s case. HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Community Bankers Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:ESXB) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYPT) 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. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. Unfortunately EYPT wasn’t nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); EYPT investors were disappointed as the stock returned -14.9% during the first two months of the fourth quarter and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds as 70 percent of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q4.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
