Buy BofI Holding, Inc. (BOFI)?

BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI) has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently.

At the moment, there are plenty of indicators shareholders can use to analyze stocks. Some of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Obviously, there are lots of reasons for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you understand what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a gander at the latest action regarding BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI).

What have hedge funds been doing with BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 33% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the most valuable position in BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI), worth close to $18.7 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $15.5 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital, Tom Brown’s Second Curve Capital and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Consequently, key money managers have jumped into BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI) headfirst. Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, established the biggest position in BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI). Driehaus Capital had 0.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Douglas W. Case’s Advanced Investment Partners also made a $0.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

How are insiders trading BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time frame, BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s strategies, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI) is an important part of this process.

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