In the financial world, there are dozens of indicators investors can use to watch stocks. A couple of the most underrated 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 best hedge fund managers can beat the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see just how much).
Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. There are a number of motivations for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, let’s take a peek at the latest action regarding Taylor Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:TAYC).
How have hedgies been trading Taylor Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:TAYC)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Tom Brown’s Second Curve Capital had the largest position in Taylor Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:TAYC), worth close to $34 million, comprising 9.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $4.8 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Charles Davidson’s Wexford Capital, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
Judging by the fact that Taylor Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:TAYC) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers that slashed their full holdings heading into 2013. It’s worth mentioning that Matthew Lindenbaum’s Basswood Capital dumped the biggest position of the 450+ funds we key on, comprising about $2.4 million in stock. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Insider trading activity in Taylor Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:TAYC)
Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Taylor Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:TAYC) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Taylor Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:TAYC). These stocks are First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE), First Financial Corp (NASDAQ:THFF), Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN), First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME), and Wilshire Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:WIBC). This group of stocks are in the regional – midwest banks industry and their market caps match TAYC’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| First Financial Corp (NASDAQ:THFF) | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) | 11 | 3 | 8 |
| Wilshire Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:WIBC) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
With the results exhibited by our strategies, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Taylor Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:TAYC) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
