Union First Market Bankshares Corp. (NASDAQ:UBSH) investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently.
If you’d ask most investors, hedge funds are viewed as underperforming, old financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open today, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the aristocrats of this group, close to 450 funds. It is estimated that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by watching their best picks, we have figured out a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. 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 started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).
With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the key action regarding Union First Market Bankshares Corp. (NASDAQ:UBSH).
Hedge fund activity in Union First Market Bankshares Corp. (NASDAQ:UBSH)
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -29% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
According to our comprehensive database, Tom Gayner’s Markel Gayner Asset Management had the most valuable position in Union First Market Bankshares Corp. (NASDAQ:UBSH), worth close to $37.1 million, comprising 1.4% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $1.1 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management and Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners.
Due to the fact that Union First Market Bankshares Corp. (NASDAQ:UBSH) has experienced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there were a few fund managers who were dropping their entire stakes at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors said goodbye to the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, totaling close to $0.2 million in stock., and D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds at the end of the first quarter.
Insider trading activity in Union First Market Bankshares Corp. (NASDAQ:UBSH)
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Union First Market Bankshares Corp. (NASDAQ:UBSH) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the returns shown by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Union First Market Bankshares Corp. (NASDAQ:UBSH) applies perfectly to this mantra.
