Irving Kahn and a Board Director Bullish About Old Republic International Corporation (ORI)

On Jan. 27th, James Hellauer, Board Director at Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI), filed a Form 4 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, declaring a purchase of the company’s stock. In two separate transactions the insider acquired 4,000 shares for $15.38 per common unit. After the reported transactions, he directly owns 25,400, plus an extra of 14,600 held indirectly.

Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) is an insurance underwriter with a market cap of more than $4 billion. Trading at only 13.2 times its earnings, a considerable discount to the industry average valuation of 16.6x, returns on equity and assets above its peers’ mean, this stock looks quite interesting. However, analysts’ opinion is quite divided, between buy and hold recommendations.

Besides a few analysts and Mr. Hellauer, hedge funds also seem to like Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI). In its last 13F form, Irving Kahn´s Kahn Brothers –the largest “hedgie” bull- declared a slight increase in its position in the stock. The fund now holds more than 3.4 million shares, valued at approximately $53.6 million. This position comprised 7.67% of Kahn´s Q3 equity portfolio.

Second in terms of bullish sentiment is Chuck Royce´s Royce & Associates, which holds more than 1.6 million shares. However, the fund reduced its stakes in Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) by 18% over the last reported quarter. Other prominent investors who also sold plenty of stock from this company over Q3 were Roger Keith Long and D. E. Shaw.

Nonetheless, Mr. Hellauer does not seem to care about this. And neither do other funds like Cliff Asness´ Aqr Capital Management, which upped its position by 935%, to 125,289 shares. Similar is the case of Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell´s Arrowstreet Capital that increased its stakes by 46% and now holds 754,192 shares. Finally, Ken Griffin´s Citadel Investment Group, which currently owns 125,576, augmented its bets by 3%. For more info on funds betting on Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI), check out our database.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no position in any stocks mentioned

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