Hedge Funds Are Buying First Citizens BancShares Inc. (FCNCA)

Is First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) a good investment?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of indicators market participants can use to analyze the equity markets. A pair 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 top picks of the top hedge fund managers can trounce the broader indices by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as crucial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are many motivations for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s discuss the newest info surrounding First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA).

What have hedge funds been doing with First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 20% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA). Royce & Associates has a $26.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Ken Gray and Steve Walsh of Bryn Mawr Capital, with a $19.3 million position; 1.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.

As aggregate interest spiked, certain bigger names have jumped into First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) headfirst. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, established the most outsized position in First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA). Royce & Associates had 26.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital also initiated a $19.3 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new FCNCA investors: Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital, and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.

What have insiders been doing with First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA)?

Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA). These stocks are WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC), SCBT Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:SCBT), BankUnited (NYSE:BKU), United Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBSI), and Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV). This group of stocks are in the regional – mid-atlantic banks industry and their market caps resemble FCNCA’s market cap.