Here’s What Hedge Funds Think about Cowen Group Inc (COWN)

We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: Mendon Capital Advisors. 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 none of the 700+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified COWN as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Cowen Group Inc (NASDAQ:COWN) but similarly valued. These stocks are Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK), Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND), Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK), and Myers Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MYE). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble COWN’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 funds with long positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $94 million. That figure was $120 million in COWN’s case. Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Myers Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MYE) is the least popular one with only nine bullish hedge fund positions. Cowen Group Inc (NASDAQ:COWN) 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 Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: none