Is Boston Private Financial Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:BPFH) a buy, sell, or hold? The smart money is taking a bullish view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions increased by 3 recently.
At the moment, there are a multitude of methods investors can use to monitor Mr. Market. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outclass the market by a superb margin (see just how much).
Equally as integral, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. There are plenty of reasons for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action surrounding Boston Private Financial Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:BPFH).
Hedge fund activity in Boston Private Financial Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:BPFH)
At Q1’s end, a total of 19 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 19% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.
As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Basswood Capital, managed by Matthew Lindenbaum, created the most outsized position in Boston Private Financial Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:BPFH). Basswood Capital had 1.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also made a $1.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new BPFH positions are Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital, Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
How are insiders trading Boston Private Financial Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:BPFH)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Boston Private Financial Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:BPFH) has seen 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 9 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Boston Private Financial Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:BPFH). These stocks are Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT), Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB), Beneficial Mutual Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:BNCL), and NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB). This group of stocks belong to the regional – northeast banks industry and their market caps match BPFH’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT) | 10 | 0 | 2 |
| Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB) | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| Beneficial Mutual Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:BNCL) | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB) | 6 | 1 | 4 |
With the returns exhibited by our strategies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Boston Private Financial Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:BPFH) is no exception.
