How Progress Software Corporation (PRGS) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS) .

Is Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS) the right investment to pursue these days? Prominent investors are getting more bullish. The number of long hedge fund positions that are disclosed in regulatory 13F filings strengthened by 1 in recent months. PRGS was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with PRGS positions at the end of the previous quarter. 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 FCB Financial Holdings Inc (NYSE:FCB), Flagstar Bancorp Inc (NYSE:FBC), and Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNSL) to gather more data points.

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How are hedge funds trading Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS)?

Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a gain of 6% from the second quarter of 2016. By comparison, 20 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in PRGS heading into this year. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management has the biggest position in Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS), worth close to $24.6 million. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Douglas T. Granat of Trigran Investments, with a $22.4 million position; 5.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish contain David E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management, and Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies. We should note that none of these hedge funds are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.

Now, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Laurion Capital Management created the biggest position in Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS). Laurion Capital Management had $7.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also initiated a $3.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS) but similarly valued. We will take a look at FCB Financial Holdings Inc (NYSE:FCB), Flagstar Bancorp Inc (NYSE:FBC), Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNSL), and Ship Finance International Limited (NYSE:SFL). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble PRGS’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $61 million. That figure was $88 million in the case of PRGS. FCB Financial Holdings Inc (NYSE:FCB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNSL) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard FCB might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None