2 Small-Cap Companies Surging On Hedge Fund Bullishness

• EJF Capital and Leon Cooperman disclosed bullish moves in small-cap companies on Friday.
• Shares of Alexander & Baldwin Inc ALEX rose more than 2 percent.
• Shares of PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust PMT surged roughly 0.5 percent.

Tracking hedge fund moves can provide investors with good, research-backed ideas; here's what you might have missed.

Leon Cooperman

Leon Cooperman, Chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors, disclosed on Friday an increase of more than 48 percent in his exposure to PennyMac. The hedge fund manager, who had last declared holding roughly 2.6 million shares of the Mortgage Investment Trust –as of the end of the second quarter of the year, may be now deemed the beneficial owner of 3,869,604 shares, which represent approximately 5.17 percent of the total number of shares outstanding.

This stake makes of Cooperman one of the top three institutional investors in the company. The largest one, however, is the Vanguard Group, which last acknowledged holding 4,720,666 shares, worth more than $82 million.

Another hedge fund with a large wage on PennyMac is Emanuel J. Friedman’s EJF Capital, which last disclosed ownership of 2,134,280 shares, after trimming its bet by 50 percent over the second quarter.

Emanuel J. Friedman

Emanuel J. Friedman’s EJF Capital also disclosed an increase in its stake in a small-cap company. According to a Schedule 13F filed with the SEC on Friday, the hedge fund may be deemed beneficial ownership of 2,623,130 shares, following the purchase of 650,000 shares.

This position makes of EJF Capital the second largest institutional investor in the company, only surpassed by the Vanguard Group, which last said to hold 3,060,827 shares.

Among hedge funds, Jeffrey Furber’s AEW Capital Management could be highlighted for its stake comprising 1,048,900 shares, worth more than $41 million.