We at Insider Monkey have gone over 700 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the government. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Peoples Utah Bancorp (NASDAQ:PUB) based on that data.
Peoples Utah Bancorp shareholders have witnessed a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently. PUB was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with PUB holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare PUB to other stocks, including Permian Basin Royalty Trust (NYSE:PBT), NextPoint Residential Trust Inc (NYSE:NXRT), and Legacy Reserves LP (NASDAQ:LGCY) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the recent action surrounding Peoples Utah Bancorp (NASDAQ:PUB).
How have hedgies been trading Peoples Utah Bancorp (NASDAQ:PUB)?
At the Q3’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -33% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Basswood Capital, managed by Matthew Lindenbaum, holds the number one position in Peoples Utah Bancorp (NASDAQ:PUB). Basswood Capital has a $4.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Mark Lee’s Forest Hill Capital, with a $3.6 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism contain Sharif Siddiqui’s Alpenglow Capital, Amy Minella’s Cardinal Capital and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Seeing as Peoples Utah Bancorp (NASDAQ:PUB) has experienced a declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Paul Magidson, Jonathan Cohen. And Ostrom Enders’ Castine Capital Management sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $1 million in stock. Dmitry Balyasny’s fund, Balyasny Asset Management, also dropped its stock, about $0.7 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds in the third quarter.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Peoples Utah Bancorp (NASDAQ:PUB) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Permian Basin Royalty Trust (NYSE:PBT), NextPoint Residential Trust Inc (NYSE:NXRT), Legacy Reserves LP (NASDAQ:LGCY), and Applied Optoelectronics Inc (NASDAQ:AAOI). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to PUB’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PBT | 5 | 16026 | -2 |
| NXRT | 7 | 36265 | 0 |
| LGCY | 4 | 9262 | 1 |
| AAOI | 20 | 78488 | 7 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $35 million. That figure was $11 million in PUB’s case. Applied Optoelectronics Inc (NASDAQ:AAOI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Legacy Reserves LP (NASDAQ:LGCY) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Peoples Utah Bancorp (NASDAQ:PUB) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard AAOI might be a better candidate to consider a long position.