Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT) investors should be aware of a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money of late.
In today’s marketplace, there are tons of methods investors can use to monitor publicly traded companies. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Equally as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are a number of reasons for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors know what to do (learn more here).
Now, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action regarding Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT).
Hedge fund activity in Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT)
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -47% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management had the most valuable position in Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT), worth close to $36.2 million, accounting for 1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $7.3 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Matthew Lindenbaum’s Basswood Capital, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner.
Judging by the fact that Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT) has witnessed declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there were a few hedge funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes in Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Israel Englander’s Millennium Management sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies we track, worth close to $3.9 million in stock., and Richard Schimel of Diamondback Capital was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $3.9 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 7 funds in Q4.
How are insiders trading Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT). These stocks are Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY), National Penn Bancshares (NASDAQ:NPBC), Valley National Bancorp (NYSE:VLY), Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS), and Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ). This group of stocks belong to the regional – northeast banks industry and their market caps match FULT’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| National Penn Bancshares (NASDAQ:NPBC) | 13 | 2 | 0 |
| Valley National Bancorp (NYSE:VLY) | 10 | 11 | 2 |
| Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) | 21 | 1 | 4 |
| Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ) | 11 | 1 | 0 |
With the returns exhibited by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT) applies perfectly to this mantra.
