Hedge Funds Are Crazy About First Midwest Bancorp Inc (FMBI)

Should First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI) investors track the following data?

Now, according to many of your fellow readers, hedge funds are assumed to be useless, outdated financial tools of a period lost to current times. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds with their doors open in present day, this site aim at the aristocrats of this club, around 525 funds. It is widely held that this group oversees the majority of the smart money’s total assets, and by paying attention to their highest quality equity investments, we’ve figured out a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find the details here).

Equally as necessary, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the marketplace. There are a variety of incentives for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Thus, we’re going to analyze the latest info for First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI).

First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI)

How have hedgies been trading First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 15% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.

According to our 13F database, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the largest position in First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI), worth close to $11.8 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Dreman Value Management, managed by David Dreman, which held a $9.6 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Consequently, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, created the most outsized position in First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI). Citadel Investment Group had 11.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management also initiated a $9.6 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new FMBI positions are Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

What have insiders been doing with First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI). These stocks are MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI), Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CRBC), Park National Corporation (NYSEAMEX:PRK), First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:FFBC), and National Bank Holdings Corp (NYSE:NBHC). This group of stocks are the members of the regional – midwest banks industry and their market caps match FMBI’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI) 11 0 0
Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CRBC) 0 0
Park National Corporation (NYSEAMEX:PRK) 3 0 0
First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:FFBC) 7 0 0
National Bank Holdings Corp (NYSE:NBHC) 16 0 0

Using the results shown by Insider Monkey’s research, regular investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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