The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. Insider Monkey finished processing more than 750 13F filings submitted by hedge funds and prominent investors. These filings show these funds’ portfolio positions as of September 30th, 2019. What do these smart investors think about Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT)?
Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT) shareholders have witnessed an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. FULT was in 15 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2019. There were 14 hedge funds in our database with FULT holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that FULT isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
Hedge funds’ reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds’ small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the Russell 2000 ETFs by 40 percentage points since May 2014 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world’s largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. One of the most bullish analysts in America just put his money where his mouth is. He says, “I’m investing more today than I did back in early 2009.” So we check out his pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We also rely on the best performing hedge funds‘ buy/sell signals. We’re going to take a gander at the key hedge fund action surrounding Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT).
What have hedge funds been doing with Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 15 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 7% from the second quarter of 2019. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards FULT over the last 17 quarters. So, let’s find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds, Arrowstreet Capital held the most valuable stake in Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT), which was worth $6 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Millennium Management which amassed $2.1 million worth of shares. Gardner Russo & Gardner, AQR Capital Management, and Renaissance Technologies were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Caxton Associates allocated the biggest weight to Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT), around 0.07% of its 13F portfolio. Gardner Russo & Gardner is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.01 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to FULT.
Now, specific money managers have jumped into Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT) headfirst. Caxton Associates, managed by Bruce Kovner, assembled the most valuable position in Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT). Caxton Associates had $0.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp also made a $0.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new FULT position is Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT). We will take a look at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR), Meritage Homes Corp (NYSE:MTH), Acacia Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIA), and Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR). This group of stocks’ market caps match FULT’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARWR | 15 | 156469 | -1 |
| MTH | 25 | 360789 | 10 |
| ACIA | 25 | 507691 | -3 |
| FLR | 18 | 210283 | -3 |
| Average | 20.75 | 308808 | 0.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $309 million. That figure was $18 million in FULT’s case. Meritage Homes Corp (NYSE:MTH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT) is even less popular than ARWR. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on FULT, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 6.1% during the fourth quarter (through 11/30) and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
