Heritage Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HBOS) investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months.
In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as slow, outdated financial vehicles of the past. While there are over 8000 funds trading at the moment, we choose to focus on the bigwigs of this group, close to 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees most of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by watching their top stock picks, we have revealed a few investment strategies that have historically beaten Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see all of our picks from August).
Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the key action regarding Heritage Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HBOS).
What does the smart money think about Heritage Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HBOS)?
At year’s end, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -17% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.
Of the funds we track, Otter Creek Management, managed by Roger Keith Long, holds the biggest position in Heritage Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HBOS). Otter Creek Management has a $4.9 million position in the stock, comprising 0.8% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $0.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management, David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
Since Heritage Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HBOS) has witnessed falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedgies that decided to sell off their positions entirely at the end of the year. It’s worth mentioning that Ryan Heslop and Ariel Warszawski’s Firefly Value Partners dropped the biggest position of the 450+ funds we track, worth an estimated $0.6 million in stock.. Jacob Gottlieb’s fund, Visium Asset Management, also dumped its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds at the end of the year.
Insider trading activity in Heritage Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HBOS)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Heritage Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HBOS) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, 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 Heritage Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HBOS). These stocks are Crescent Financial Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRFN), Middleburg Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:MBRG), C&F Financial Corp (NASDAQ:CFFI), LCNB Corp. (NASDAQ:LCNB), and Southern National Banc. of Virginia, Inc (NASDAQ:SONA). This group of stocks belong to the regional – mid-atlantic banks industry and their market caps resemble HBOS’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Crescent Financial Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRFN) | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Middleburg Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:MBRG) | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| C&F Financial Corp (NASDAQ:CFFI) | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| LCNB Corp. (NASDAQ:LCNB) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Southern National Banc. of Virginia, Inc (NASDAQ:SONA) | 1 | 4 | 1 |
With the results exhibited by our strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Heritage Financial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HBOS) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
