Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN) investors should be aware of a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late.
At the moment, there are plenty of indicators shareholders can use to watch Mr. Market. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can trounce the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Just as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to break down the financial markets. There are a variety of stimuli for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you know what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a peek at the key action regarding Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN).
What have hedge funds been doing with Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 37 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -5% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management had the biggest position in Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN), worth close to $157.9 million, accounting for 3.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is York Capital Management, managed by James Dinan, which held a $49 million position; the fund has 1.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Matthew Iorio’s White Elm Capital, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Due to the fact that Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN) has experienced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of hedgies that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital said goodbye to the biggest investment of all the hedgies we key on, worth close to $24.1 million in stock., and John Kleinheinz of Kleinheinz Capital Partners was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $15.6 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds heading into Q2.
Insider trading activity in Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN)
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN). These stocks are Investors Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISBC), First Niagara Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:FNFG), New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB), People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT), and Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCBK). This group of stocks belong to the savings & loans industry and their market caps are closest to OCN’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Investors Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISBC) | 9 | 1 | 1 |
| First Niagara Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ:FNFG) | 19 | 3 | 0 |
| New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| People’s United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBCT) | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCBK) | 24 | 0 | 2 |
With the results exhibited by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN) applies perfectly to this mantra.
