In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Just as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
Now, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action encompassing Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Grp, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:SMFG).
How are hedge funds trading Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Grp, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:SMFG)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 14% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the largest position in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Grp, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:SMFG). Renaissance Technologies has a $10.3 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Dreman Value Management, managed by David Dreman, which held a $5.7 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management.
As aggregate interest increased, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Ellington, managed by Mike Vranos, assembled the largest position in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Grp, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:SMFG). Ellington had 0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.
Insider trading activity in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Grp, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:SMFG)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time frame, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Grp, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:SMFG) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Grp, Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:SMFG). These stocks are Royal Bank of Canada (USA) (NYSE:RY), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (ADR) (NYSE:BBVA), Banco Bradesco SA (ADR) (NYSE:BBD), and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:MFG). All of these stocks are in the foreign regional banks industry and their market caps are closest to SMFG’s market cap.
