These Three Stocks Are on the Move for Different Reasons; What Does Smart Money Say about Them?

In other news, Yadkin Financial Corp (NYSE:YDKN) agreed to merge with NewBridge Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBBC) in a deal where NewBridge shareholders will get 0.5 shares of Yadkin for each NewBridge share they own. At Yadkin’s current price of $21.75, that translates to a cool $10.87 per share for NewBridge shareholders. The combined company will have assets of $7.1 billion and be more diversified. Management will presumably find enough synergies to justify the premium paid. EPS at the two regional banks should continue to trend higher as the Federal Reserve begins to normalize interest rates and the U.S. economy strengthens.

Among the funds we track, six investors disclosed positions with an aggregate value of $60.08 million in New Bridge Bancorp (representing 17.20% of the float) at the end of June, up from five funds and $57.17 million at the end of the first quarter. Matthew Lindenbaum‘s Basswood Capital owns 3.55 million shares of the company, while Robert I. Usdan and Wayne K. Goldstein’s Endicott Management holds 2.5 million shares as of the end of June.

Disclosure: none