Hedge Funds Are Betting On People’s United Financial, Inc. (PBCT)

At the moment, there are plenty of gauges market participants can use to watch publicly traded companies. Some 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 elite hedge fund managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Just as key, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to analyze the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s analyze the recent info for People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT).

How have hedgies been trading People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 57% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, holds the largest position in People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT). Winton Capital Management has a $4.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital, with a $3.2 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and John Zaro’s Bourgeon Capital.

As aggregate interest spiked, certain money managers have jumped into People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT) headfirst. Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, assembled the most valuable position in People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT). Winton Capital Management had 4.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also initiated a $3.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new PBCT positions are Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, and John Zaro’s Bourgeon Capital.

How have insiders been trading People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT). These stocks are Investors Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISBC), First Niagara Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:FNFG), New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB), Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN), and Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCBK). This group of stocks are the members of the savings & loans industry and their market caps are similar to PBCT’s market cap.