The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the September quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge fund investors experienced strong gains on the back of a strong market performance, which certainly propelled them to adjust their equity holdings so as to maintain the desired risk profile. As a result, the relevancy of these public filings and their content is indisputable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL).
Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) was in 3 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. The all time high for this statistics is 8. AVXL has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently. There were 5 hedge funds in our database with AVXL positions at the end of the second quarter. Our calculations also showed that AVXL isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
To most shareholders, hedge funds are seen as worthless, outdated financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation at the moment, We hone in on the masters of this group, about 850 funds. These hedge fund managers have their hands on the majority of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by observing their highest performing picks, Insider Monkey has brought to light various investment strategies that have historically exceeded Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points annually since its inception in March 2017. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 13% since February 2017 (through November 17th) even though the market was up 65% during the same period. We just shared a list of 6 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management
At Insider Monkey we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, Federal Reserve has been creating trillions of dollars electronically to keep the interest rates near zero. We believe this will lead to inflation and boost real estate prices. So, we recommended this real estate stock to our monthly premium newsletter subscribers. We go through lists like the 10 most profitable companies in the world to pick the best large-cap stocks to buy. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our website. Now let’s check out the latest hedge fund action encompassing Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL).
What have hedge funds been doing with Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL)?
At third quarter’s end, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -40% from the second quarter of 2020. On the other hand, there were a total of 4 hedge funds with a bullish position in AVXL a year ago. So, let’s find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) was held by Knoll Capital Management, which reported holding $2.8 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by Citadel Investment Group with a $0.3 million position. The only other hedge fund that is bullish on the company was Citadel Investment Group.
Due to the fact that Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of money managers that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q4. Interestingly, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw said goodbye to the biggest position of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, worth close to $0.2 million in stock, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds heading into Q4.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL). These stocks are Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWB), Yiren Digital Ltd. (NYSE:YRD), Preferred Apartment Communities Inc. (NYSE:APTS), Hess Midstream LP (NYSE:HESM), IBEX Limited (NASDAQ:IBEX), Hebron Technology Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:HEBT), and Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW). This group of stocks’ market values resemble AVXL’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| BWB | 6 | 19703 | -3 |
| YRD | 2 | 1534 | 1 |
| APTS | 10 | 5633 | 0 |
| HESM | 5 | 7511 | -1 |
| IBEX | 5 | 19776 | 5 |
| HEBT | 1 | 3198 | 0 |
| TDW | 7 | 42431 | 0 |
| Average | 5.1 | 14255 | 0.3 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 5.1 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $14 million. That figure was $3 million in AVXL’s case. Preferred Apartment Communities Inc. (NYSE:APTS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Hebron Technology Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:HEBT) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for AVXL is 25.4. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.3% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10 percentage points. These stocks gained 28.1% in 2020 through November 23rd and still beat the market by 15.4 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on AVXL as the stock returned 13.2% since the end of the third quarter (through 11/23) and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Follow Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL)
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
