Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Renren Inc (RENN)

Hedge funds and large money managers usually invest with a focus on the long-term horizon and, therefore, short-lived dips on the charts, usually don’t make them change their opinion towards a company. This time it may be different. During the third quarter we observed increased volatility and small-cap stocks underperformed the market. Hedge fund investor letters indicated that they are cutting their overall exposure, closing out some position and doubling down on others. Let’s take a look at the hedge fund sentiment towards Renren Inc (NYSE:RENN) to find out whether it was one of their high conviction long-term ideas.

Is Renren Inc (NYSE:RENN) a marvelous investment now? Prominent investors are reducing their bets on the stock. The number of long hedge fund bets was cut by 1 recently. At the end of this article we will also compare RENN to other stocks, including TerraForm Global Inc (NASDAQ:GLBL), MiMedx Group Inc (NASDAQ:MDXG), and American Woodmark Corporation (NASDAQ:AMWD) to get a better sense of its popularity.

In the financial world, there are several metrics stock market investors employ to assess stocks. Some of the most under-the-radar metrics are hedge fund and insider trading signals. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a significant margin (see the details here).

Now, let’s view the recent action regarding Renren Inc (NYSE:RENN).

How have hedgies been trading Renren Inc (NYSE:RENN)?

Heading into Q4, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -14% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group has the most valuable position in Renren Inc (NYSE:RENN), worth close to $5.4 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. On Citadel Investment Group’s heels is Visium Asset Management, managed by Jacob Gottlieb, which holds a $2.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism encompass Paul Solit’s Potomac Capital Management and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.