Is First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI) ready to rally soon? Money managers are in a bearish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience
To the average investor, there are dozens of gauges shareholders can use to watch stocks. A duo of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Equally as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of incentives for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors understand where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action regarding First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI).
What does the smart money think about First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.
Of the funds we track, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the largest position in First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI), worth close to $25.7 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is David Dreman of Dreman Value Management, with a $11 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.
Seeing as First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI) has experienced bearish sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few fund managers who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q2. Intriguingly, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors sold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies we monitor, comprising about $0.2 million in stock. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI). These stocks are MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI), Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CRBC), Park National Corporation (NYSEAMEX:PRK), First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:FFBC), and National Bank Holdings Corp (NYSE:NBHC). This group of stocks belong to the regional – midwest banks industry and their market caps are closest to FMBI’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI) | 9 | 0 | 3 |
| Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CRBC) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Park National Corporation (NYSEAMEX:PRK) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:FFBC) | 5 | 9 | 2 |
| National Bank Holdings Corp (NYSE:NBHC) | 21 | 1 | 0 |
With the results exhibited by the aforementioned studies, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI) applies perfectly to this mantra.
