In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many gauges investors can use to track the equity markets. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).
Just as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of incentives for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if you know what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action surrounding Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU).
What have hedge funds been doing with Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 20% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Matthew Lindenbaum’s Basswood Capital had the largest position in Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU), worth close to $4.1 million, accounting for 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $3.8 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Basswood Capital, managed by Matthew Lindenbaum, established the biggest position in Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU). Basswood Capital had 4.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
How have insiders been trading Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU) has seen 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns demonstrated by our time-tested strategies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
