Is Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) the right pick for your portfolio? Money managers are in a bearish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets shrunk by 6 in recent months.
At the moment, there are a multitude of gauges investors can use to watch the equity markets. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can beat their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Just as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the key action encompassing Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF).
What does the smart money think about Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 37 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -14% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the biggest position in Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF). Citadel Investment Group has a $172.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, which held a $107.2 million position; 0.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Ryan Heslop and Ariel Warszawski’s Firefly Value Partners.
Due to the fact that Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, we can see that there was a specific group of hedgies who sold off their entire stakes in Q1. Intriguingly, David Gallo’s Valinor Management LLC said goodbye to the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, worth an estimated $54.8 million in stock., and Louis Bacon of Moore Global Investments was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $20.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 6 funds in Q1.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF). These stocks are Trustmark Corp (NASDAQ:TRMK), F.N.B. Corp (NYSE:FNB), EverBank Financial Corp (NYSE:EVER), First Horizon National Corporation (NYSE:FHN), and Hancock Holding Company (NASDAQ:HBHC). This group of stocks are in the regional – southeast banks industry and their market caps resemble RF’s market cap.
