Is BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF) undervalued? The best stock pickers are becoming less hopeful. The number of bullish hedge fund positions stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience
Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are a number of incentives for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if investors know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action surrounding BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF).
What have hedge funds been doing with BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF)?
At year’s end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.
Of the funds we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF). Royce & Associates has a $30.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Murray Stahl of Horizon Asset Management, with a $9.1 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management.
Since BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF) has witnessed a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedge funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely heading into 2013. Intriguingly, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital sold off the biggest stake of all the hedgies we monitor, worth about $0.4 million in stock. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Insider trading activity in BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF)
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time frame, BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF). These stocks are Texas Capital Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:TCBI), UMB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:UMBF), Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:PB), Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH), and Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR). This group of stocks belong to the regional – southwest banks industry and their market caps match BOKF’s market cap.
