We at Insider Monkey have gone over 752 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the SEC The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30th. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBFS) based on that data.
Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBFS) has seen an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. Our calculations also showed that PBFS 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.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 91% since May 2014 and outperformed the Russell 2000 ETFs by nearly 40 percentage points. Our short strategy outperformed the S&P 500 short ETFs by 20 percentage points annually (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Matthew Lindenbaum of Basswood Capital
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Discover is offering this insane cashback card, so we look into shorting the stock. 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 even check out this option genius’ weekly trade ideas. This December, we recommended Adams Energy as a one-way bet based on an under-the-radar fund manager’s investor letter and the stock already gained 20 percent. Keeping this in mind let’s take a look at the latest hedge fund action regarding Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBFS).
What does smart money think about Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBFS)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 6 from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards PBFS over the last 17 quarters. So, let’s check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds, Basswood Capital held the most valuable stake in Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBFS), which was worth $2.3 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Seidman Investment Partnership which amassed $1.3 million worth of shares. Millennium Management, Citadel Investment Group, and Arrowstreet Capital 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 Seidman Investment Partnership allocated the biggest weight to Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBFS), around 1.17% of its 13F portfolio. Basswood Capital is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 0.17 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to PBFS.
As aggregate interest increased, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Basswood Capital, managed by Matthew Lindenbaum, created the most outsized position in Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBFS). Basswood Capital had $2.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Lawrence Seidman’s Seidman Investment Partnership also initiated a $1.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBFS). We will take a look at CSI Compressco LP (NASDAQ:CCLP), Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI), Danaos Corporation (NYSE:DAC), and Mohawk Group Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MWK). This group of stocks’ market valuations match PBFS’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCLP | 3 | 1881 | -1 |
| UTI | 7 | 42341 | 2 |
| DAC | 1 | 554 | 0 |
| MWK | 3 | 4832 | 0 |
| Average | 3.5 | 12402 | 0.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 3.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $12 million. That figure was $5 million in PBFS’s case. Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Danaos Corporation (NYSE:DAC) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Pioneer Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBFS) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. 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. Hedge funds were also right about betting on PBFS, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 6.3% during the first two months of the fourth quarter and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.