Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP) investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund sentiment lately.
In the financial world, there are a multitude of metrics market participants can use to monitor publicly traded companies. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can trounce the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Just as important, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are many incentives for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a look at the latest action surrounding Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP).
How are hedge funds trading Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP)?
At year’s end, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -6% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.
Of the funds we track, David Gallo’s Valinor Management LLC had the biggest position in Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP), worth close to $190.3 million, comprising 8.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Paulson & Co, managed by John Paulson, which held a $108.3 million position; the fund has 0.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital, Debra Fine’s Fine Capital Partners and Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group.
Judging by the fact that Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there were a few hedge funds who sold off their positions entirely at the end of the year. At the top of the heap, Thomas Ellis and Todd Hammer’s North Run Capital dropped the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, comprising about $11.3 million in stock.. Roberto Mignone’s fund, Bridger Management, also dumped its stock, about $0.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds at the end of the year.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP). These stocks are Bank of Ireland (ADR) (NYSE:IRE), First Bancorp (NYSE:FBP), HDFC Bank Limited (ADR) (NYSE:HDB), CorpBanca (ADR) (NYSE:BCA), and Grupo Financero Sntdr Mxco SAB de CV ADR (NYSE:BSMX). This group of stocks belong to the foreign regional banks industry and their market caps are closest to BPOP’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Bank of Ireland (ADR) (NYSE:IRE) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| First Bancorp (NYSE:FBP) | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| HDFC Bank Limited (ADR) (NYSE:HDB) | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| CorpBanca (ADR) (NYSE:BCA) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Grupo Financero Sntdr Mxco SAB de CV ADR (NYSE:BSMX) | 14 | 0 | 0 |
With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s strategies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Popular Inc (NASDAQ:BPOP) is no exception.
