On the other hand, Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) saw one of the five quants unloading its entire stake during the third quarter. That fund was Renaissance Technologies, which sold 36,900 shares it had held at the end of June. The largest stake at the end of September was held by D. E. Shaw & Co., which reported ownership of 6.62 million shares, up by 27% over the quarter, followed by AQR Capital Management, which increased its position by 13% to 6.52 million shares.
A slightly smaller position was disclosed by Two Sigma Advisors, which amassed 5.15 million shares, up by 9% over the quarter. Finally, Citadel Investment Group held the smallest stake, which was reduced by 26% to 1.81 million shares between July and September. Among the funds we track, Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) also registered an increase in popularity during the third quarter, as the number of funds bullish on the stock jumped to 104 from 88.
In JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Renaissance Technologies also sold out its stake during the third quarter, having previously amassed 602,286 shares. The only quant in the list that reduced its exposure to the stock is Citadel Investment Group, which held 121,436 shares at the end of September, down by 59% over the quarter.
On the other hand, D. E. Shaw & Co.’s stake in JPMorgan was boosted by almost 400% to 370,946 shares, while Tw0 Sigma Advisors more than doubled its position to 720,180 shares. However, the largest stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) was disclosed by AQR Capital Management, which raised its holding by 11% to 4.13 million shares during the third quarter. Moreover, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) saw 98 funds from our database holding shares heading into the fourth quarter.
Finally, Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) is the least popular financial stock among the quants we have selected for this article, mainly because neither Two Sigma Advisors, nor Renaissance Technologies, held its shares in the third quarter. RenTech unloaded its entire stake during the fourth quarter of 2015, while Two Sigma Advisors closed its position in the second quarter of 2016. Moreover, among the remaining three funds, Citadel Investment Group sold all of its shares between July and September. So, we are left with just two funds, AQR Capital Management and D. E. Shaw & Co. that had Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) in their equity portfolios heading into the fourth quarter. However, both funds cut their positions during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw reduced its stake by 40% to 4.61 million shares and AQR Capital Management disposed of 20% of its position and reported 2.37 million shares in its latest 13F filing. Among the funds in our database, Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) is also the least popular stock in this list, although it still registered 97 funds with bullish positions at the end of September.
To sum up, we need to select two stocks from the list that we think should be more closer looked at. It’s easy to see that we can eliminate Citigroup, and among the remaining three stocks, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) deserve more attention, based on the sentiment of both just the five quants we have selected and all the funds in our database. However, our conclusion is subjective and more analysis is required before adding either one of these stocks to one’s portfolio.
Disclosure: none
