Hedge Funds Might Be Losing Interest in Banks Despite High Prospects of Rate Hike

#2. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 97

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $6.93 Billion

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) seems to have lost some of its appeal among the hedge funds followed by Insider Monkey, given that the number of money managers invested in JPM dropped to 97 from 100 during the March quarter. Correspondingly, the dollar value of those money managers’ equity investments in the bank fell to $6.93 billion from $7.58 billion quarter-over-quarter. The biggest American bank has seen its shares gain nearly 8% in the past three months, but the stock continues to trade in negative territory year-to-date. JPMorgan’s net income for the first quarter declined 7% year-over-year to $5.5 billion, which reflects a higher provision for credit losses and lower net revenue. Meanwhile, the bank’s net revenue for the quarter fell 3% year-on-year to $23.2 billion due to the impact of a challenging market environment during the three-month period. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management disclosed owning 14.00 million shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) in its latest 13F.

#1. Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 110

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $5.52 Billion

The smart money sentiment towards Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) fell slightly during the first three months of 2016, as the number of asset managers from our system with equity investments in BAC declined to 110 from 113. In the meantime, the aggregate value of those investments decreased to $5.52 billion from the $6.80 billion recorded at the end of the December quarter. The 110 asset managers with stakes in BAC hoarded up 4% of the company’s outstanding shares. The shares of BAC, which are down 14% since the start of 2016, appear to be extremely cheap at the moment if bearing in mind that the bank is currently trading for 64% of its book value. Put differently, one could buy $1 worth of BAC’s assets for just $0.64. Bank of America posted revenue of $19.5 billion for the first quarter, which declined 6.7% year-over-year due to a massive decline in the bank’s trading businesses. Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management has 30.28 million shares of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) among its pool of holdings as of March 31.

Disclosure: None