Hedge Fund Indicator Went Bearish On National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NBG) In May

How have hedgies been trading National Bank of Greece S.A. (NYSE:NBG)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -24% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of hedge fund managers who were brave enough to bet on NBG.

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, J Kevin Kenny Jr’s Emerging Sovereign Group had the largest position in National Bank of Greece S.A. (NYSE:NBG), worth close to $16.9 million, amounting to 0.6% of its total 13F portfolio. On Emerging Sovereign Group’s heels is Dalton Investments, led by Gifford Combs, holding a $12.8 million position; 4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Scott Lawrence Swid’s SLS Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

Because National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) has faced falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there exists a select few money managers that slashed their entire stakes during the first quarter. Interestingly, Buckley Ratchford’s Wingspan Investment Management dumped the biggest stake of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $5.5 million in stock, and Dinakar Singh of TPG-AXON Management LP was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $3.7 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds in first quarter.

Overall, hedge funds’ positions in NBG were small for a $4 billion company and they were even trimming those. Our hedge fund sentiment got it right by downgrading National Bank of Greece S.A. several weeks in advance of the current crisis.

Disclosure: None