Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Guaranty Bancorp (GBNK)?

Is Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK) a worthy investment today? Prominent investors are getting less optimistic. The number of long hedge fund positions stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience

In the financial world, there are many indicators shareholders can use to track stocks. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the world of equities. There are plenty of reasons for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the latest action regarding Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK).

How have hedgies been trading Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Ralph V. Whitworth’s Relational Investors had the biggest position in Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK), worth close to $36.9 million, comprising 0.7% of its total 13F portfolio. On Relational Investors’s heels is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $2.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Joseph A. Jolson’s Harvest Capital Strategies, Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

How have insiders been trading Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK) has experienced 2 unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Guaranty Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBNK) applies perfectly to this mantra.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds