Here is What Hedge Funds Think About MB Financial, Inc. (MBFI)

MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI) investors should pay attention to a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late.

In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of metrics market participants can use to analyze stocks. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can beat their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action encompassing MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI).

What does the smart money think about MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -53% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the biggest position in MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI), worth close to $1.5 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $1.1 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Due to the fact that MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI) has faced falling interest from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedge funds who were dropping their full holdings in Q1. At the top of the heap, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital sold off the largest investment of all the hedgies we monitor, worth about $8.1 million in stock.. Anil Stevens and Glenn Shapiro’s fund, Parameter Capital Management, also dumped its stock, about $3.8 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 10 funds in Q1.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time period, MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBFI). These stocks are First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI), PrivateBancorp Inc (NASDAQ:PVTB), Old National Bancorp (NYSE:ONB), and Wintrust Financial Corp (NASDAQ:WTFC). This group of stocks belong to the regional – midwest banks industry and their market caps match MBFI’s market cap.