Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Synovus Financial Corp. (SNV)

Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) was in 27 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. SNV shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund interest recently. There were 21 hedge funds in our database with SNV holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV)

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Just as integral, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of motivations for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if you understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the recent action regarding Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV).

What does the smart money think about Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 27 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 29% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Anchorage Advisors, managed by Kevin Michael Ulrich, holds the most valuable position in Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV). Anchorage Advisors has a $92.9 million position in the stock, comprising 5.6% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, which held a $37.6 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP, Tom Brown’s Second Curve Capital and Debra Fine’s Fine Capital Partners.

As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Antipodean Advisors, managed by Eric Chen, established the most valuable position in Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV). Antipodean Advisors had 14.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also initiated a $14.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Eric Halet and Davide Serra’s Algebris Investments, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Insider trading activity in Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV). These stocks are WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC), SCBT Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SCBT), United Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBSI), First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA), and BankUnited (NYSE:BKU). This group of stocks belong to the regional – mid-atlantic banks industry and their market caps match SNV’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) 9 0 2
SCBT Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SCBT) 7 1 0
United Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBSI) 6 1 1
First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) 10 0 2
BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) 14 0 11

With the results demonstrated by our research, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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