Hedge Funds Are Buying PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB)

Is PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB) going to take off soon? Money managers are in a bullish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets improved by 6 lately.

To most shareholders, hedge funds are seen as underperforming, outdated financial tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open at the moment, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the aristocrats of this group, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls most of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by tracking their best stock picks, we have found a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (check out a sample of our picks).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of reasons for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the key action surrounding PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB).

What does the smart money think about PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB)?

At year’s end, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 60% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Donald Chiboucis, holds the most valuable position in PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB). Columbus Circle Investors has a $14 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Basswood Capital, managed by Matthew Lindenbaum, which held a $11 million position; 1.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments, Drew Cupps’s Cupps Capital Management and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.

Now, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Basswood Capital, managed by Matthew Lindenbaum, created the biggest position in PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB). Basswood Capital had 11 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also initiated a $4 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new PVTB investors: Anil Stevens and Glenn Shapiro’s Parameter Capital Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

Insider trading activity in PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB) has experienced 3 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB) is no exception.

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