Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love WSFS Financial Corporation (WSFS)?

WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS) was in 9 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. WSFS has seen a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with WSFS holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In today’s marketplace, there are many methods shareholders can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A duo of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of reasons for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action surrounding WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS).

Hedge fund activity in WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS)

At Q1’s end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter.

Since WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there was a specific group of hedge funds that slashed their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Matthew Lindenbaum’s Basswood Capital sold off the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, comprising close to $3.3 million in stock.. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also dumped its stock, about $1 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How have insiders been trading WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns demonstrated by our research, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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