Should You Buy Webster Financial Corporation (WBS)?

How do we determine whether Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) makes for a good investment at the moment? We analyze the sentiment of a select group of the very best investors in the world, who spend immense amounts of time and resources studying companies. They may not always be right (no one is), but data shows that their consensus long positions have historically outperformed the market when we adjust for known risk factors.

Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) has seen an increase in hedge fund sentiment recently. At the end of this article, we will also compare Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) to other stocks, including Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR), HEICO Corporation (NYSE:HEI), and Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX) to get a better sense of its popularity.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are numerous signals market participants put to use to grade stocks. A pair of the most underrated signals are hedge fund and insider trading moves. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a solid margin (see the details here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the key action encompassing Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS).

What have hedge funds been doing with Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS)?

At the end of Q3, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, an increase of 9% from the second quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital has the number one position in Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS), worth close to $127.3 million, comprising 2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, which holds a $92.6 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism consist of Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management, Michael Barnes and Arif Inayatullah’s Tricadia Capital Management, and Andrew Immerman and Jeremy Schiffman’s Palestra Capital Management.