Hedge Fund Ownership Paints a Positive Picture of Francesca’s Holdings Corp (FRAN)

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Francesca’s Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FRAN) investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently, with hedge fund ownership increasing by 3 in Q3. At the end of this article we will also compare FRAN to other stocks including Almost Family, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFAM), Dorchester Minerals LP (NASDAQ:DMLP), and Lindblad Expeditions Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LIND) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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How are hedge funds trading Francesca’s Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FRAN)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 24 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a rise of 14% from the previous quarter. While ownership of the stock remains slightly below its level from six months earlier, it’s 33% higher than it was a year ago. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Daruma Asset Management, managed by Mariko Gordon, holds the biggest position in Francesca’s Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FRAN). Daruma Asset Management has a $55.7 million position in the stock, comprising 3.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $23.4 million position. Other peers that are bullish contain Matthew A. Weatherbie’s Weatherbie Capital, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.