You probably know from experience that there is not as much information on small-cap companies as there is on large companies. Of course, this makes it really hard and difficult for individual investors to make proper and accurate analysis of certain small-cap companies. However, well-known and successful hedge fund managers like Jeff Ubben, George Soros and Seth Klarman hold the necessary resources and abilities to conduct an extensive stock analysis on small-cap stocks, which enable them to make millions of dollars by identifying potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks. This represents the main reason why Insider Monkey takes notice of the hedge fund activity in these overlooked stocks.
Is Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN) an outstanding stock to buy now? The smart money is turning bullish. The number of long hedge fund positions increased by 2 lately. Our calculations also showed that bdn isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. BDN was in 17 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018. There were 15 hedge funds in our database with BDN positions at the end of the previous quarter.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 20.7% year to date (through March 12th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 32 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Let’s take a look at the fresh hedge fund action encompassing Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN).
What have hedge funds been doing with Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 17 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 13% from the second quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 13 hedge funds with a bullish position in BDN a year ago. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Balyasny Asset Management, managed by Dmitry Balyasny, holds the biggest position in Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN). Balyasny Asset Management has a $35.7 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. On Balyasny Asset Management’s heels is Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which holds a $22.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions comprise Eduardo Abush’s Waterfront Capital Partners, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
Now, key hedge funds have jumped into Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN) headfirst. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, created the most outsized position in Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN). Arrowstreet Capital had $1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments also initiated a $0.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP, Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners, and Minhua Zhang’s Weld Capital Management.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN). These stocks are Colony Capital Inc (NYSE:CLNY), Viavi Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:VIAV), Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE:CLF), and California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to BDN’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLNY | 26 | 334123 | 1 |
| VIAV | 26 | 175280 | 4 |
| CLF | 29 | 314934 | 4 |
| CWT | 8 | 25843 | 5 |
| Average | 22.25 | 212545 | 3.5 |
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 $213 million. That figure was $105 million in BDN’s case. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE:CLF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed that top 15 most popular stocks) among hedge funds returned 24.2% through April 22nd and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 7 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on BDN, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 21.5% and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
