Hedge Funds Are Dumping Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (AGLE)
Nina Todic
The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. Insider Monkey finished processing more than 750 13F filings submitted by hedge funds and prominent investors. These filings show these funds' portfolio positions as of September 30th, 2019. What do these smart investors think about Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE)?
Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE) was in 13 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of September. AGLE investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world's largest hedge funds of late. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with AGLE holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that AGLE isn't among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings).
5 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
To most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, outdated investment vehicles of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading today, Our experts choose to focus on the crème de la crème of this club, about 750 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people control most of the smart money's total capital, and by following their matchless equity investments, Insider Monkey has unsheathed a few investment strategies that have historically beaten Mr. Market. Insider Monkey's flagship short hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points a year since its inception in May 2014. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 27.8% since February 2017 (through November 21st) even though the market was up more than 39% during the same period. We just shared a list of 7 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world's largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. One of the most bullish analysts in America just put his money where his mouth is. He says, "I'm investing more today than I did back in early 2009." So we check out his pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We also rely on the best performing hedge funds' buy/sell signals. Let's take a glance at the latest hedge fund action regarding Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE).
What have hedge funds been doing with Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -19% from the second quarter of 2019. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in AGLE over the last 17 quarters. With the smart money's positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
The largest stake in Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE) was held by OrbiMed Advisors, which reported holding $22 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by Nantahala Capital Management with a $21.9 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Baker Bros. Advisors, Adage Capital Management, and Marshall Wace. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Nantahala Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE), around 0.81% of its 13F portfolio. OrbiMed Advisors is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.42 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to AGLE.
Judging by the fact that Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE) has faced a decline in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's safe to say that there was a specific group of funds that elected to cut their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. It's worth mentioning that Israel Englander's Millennium Management dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling about $0.5 million in stock, and David E. Shaw's D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds by the end of the third quarter.
Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE) but similarly valued. We will take a look at BrasilAgro - Companhia Brasileira de Propriedades Agricolas (NYSE:LND), Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Company (NYSE:HBB), Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM), and Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC). This group of stocks' market valuations match AGLE's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position LND,1,47,0 HBB,5,1794,4 FARM,13,73223,3 ASC,14,24877,4 Average,8.25,24985,2.75 [/table]
As you can see these stocks had an average of 8.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $25 million. That figure was $90 million in AGLE's case. Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand BrasilAgro - Companhia Brasileira de Propriedades Agricolas (NYSE:LND) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on AGLE as the stock returned 11.2% during the fourth quarter (through the end of November) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
