Hedge Funds and Insiders Are Bullish On Citigroup and More

Consensus insider purchases, statistically, tend to be bullish signs for a stock (read more about studies on insider trading). While stocks bought by multiple insiders don’t always beat the market, we think that they can make for a good place to start looking for undervalued stocks. We also like to track hedge fund activity, and as a result we have put together a database of 13F filings from hedge funds and other notable investors. This allows us to rank stocks based on how popular they are among hedge funds. Here are ten stocks which had multiple insiders buy in the last three months and which also had more than 30 hedge funds and other notable investors in our database of 13f filings report a position:

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) made our list of the ten most popular stocks among hedge funds during the third quarter of the year (see the full rankings). In addition, three insiders bought shares of the stock in the month of November at prices generally between $35.50 and $36.50 per share. Out of all the stocks we found with multiple insiders buying in the last three months, Citi had the strongest hedge fund interest.

The most popular energy stock among hedge funds was Kinder Morgan Inc (NYSE:KMI), a $37 billion market cap oil and gas pipeline company. Find more energy stocks hedge funds love. Two insiders have bought the stock in the last three months, including a large purchase in late October at an average price of about $34.75.

Auto parts company Visteon Corporation (NYSE:VC) has been popular among insiders, with three Board members buying the stock in the last three months; the most recent purchase was on December 17^th at $50.40 per share. Billionaire Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors increased its stake in the company during the third quarter (see more of Cohen’s stock picks).

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) counted a number of hedge funds among its owners at the end of September, among them Viking Global. This fund is managed by Tiger Cub Andreas Halvorsen (check out Halvorsen’s favorite stocks). The specialty pharmaceuticals company had three insiders buy the stock in November, though the stock price is up about 10% since that time.

Multiple insiders bought $10 billion market cap regional bank Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) in late October and early November. Billionaire James Dinan and the investment team at York Capital Management added shares during the third quarter and Regions was one of its ten largest 13F holdings by market value (see more stocks York was buying).