Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love BOK Financial Corporation (BOKF)?

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BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF) investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to watch the equity markets. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outclass the market by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as key, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action encompassing BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF).

Hedge fund activity in BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF)

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -9% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF)According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF). Royce & Associates has a $34.6 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $7.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Since BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF) has experienced bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of money managers who sold off their full holdings at the end of the first quarter. At the top of the heap, Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management dumped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we track, worth an estimated $9.1 million in stock., and Matthew Tewksbury of Stevens Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $1.7 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds at the end of the first quarter.

Insider trading activity in BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF). These stocks are Texas Capital Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:TCBI), Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB), Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH), and Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR). This group of stocks are the members of the regional – southwest banks industry and their market caps match BOKF’s market cap.

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