Is it smart to be bullish on PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB)?
Now, according to many traders, hedge funds are viewed as overrated, outdated financial vehicles of an era lost to time. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds trading currently, this site aim at the upper echelon of this group, about 525 funds. It is widely held that this group controls the lion’s share of the smart money’s total assets, and by watching their highest performing picks, we’ve identified a few investment strategies that have historically outperformed the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we‘ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).
Just as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of incentives for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).
Thus, let’s study the newest info surrounding PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB).
What does the smart money think about PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 57% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.
According to our 13F database, Basswood Capital, managed by Matthew Lindenbaum, holds the most valuable position in PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB). Basswood Capital has a $31 million position in the stock, comprising 2% of its 13F portfolio. On Basswood Capital’s heels is Donald Chiboucis of Columbus Circle Investors, with a $17.8 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.
As one would understandably expect, certain bigger names have been driving this bullishness. Basswood Capital, managed by Matthew Lindenbaum, initiated the largest position in PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB). Basswood Capital had 31 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors also made a $17.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB)?
Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB). These stocks are Park National Corporation (NYSEAMEX:PRK), Firstmerit Corp (NASDAQ:FMER), MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI), Wintrust Financial Corp (NASDAQ:WTFC), and Old National Bancorp (NYSE:ONB). All of these stocks are in the regional – midwest banks industry and their market caps match PVTB’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Park National Corporation (NYSEAMEX:PRK) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Firstmerit Corp (NASDAQ:FMER) | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Wintrust Financial Corp (NASDAQ:WTFC) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Old National Bancorp (NYSE:ONB) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Using the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s analyses, average investors must always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB) applies perfectly to this mantra.
