Is ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING) undervalued? The smart money is in a bullish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund positions improved by 4 recently.
At the moment, there are many gauges investors can use to monitor Mr. Market. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of stimuli for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you understand what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the key action surrounding ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING).
How are hedge funds trading ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 7 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 133% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
Of the funds we track, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital had the largest position in ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING), worth close to $28.8 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is David Dreman of Dreman Value Management, with a $5 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers that are bullish include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Mike Vranos’s Ellington and Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management.
As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have jumped into ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING) headfirst. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, created the largest position in ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING). Arrowstreet Capital had 28.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Mike Vranos’s Ellington also made a $0.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ING positions are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.
How are insiders trading ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING). These stocks are Sun Life Financial Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SLF), Metlife Inc (NYSE:MET), Prudential Public Limited Company (ADR) (NYSE:PUK), Manulife Financial Corporation (USA) (NYSE:MFC), and Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU). All of these stocks are in the life insurance industry and their market caps resemble ING’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Sun Life Financial Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SLF) | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Metlife Inc (NYSE:MET) | 49 | 0 | 2 |
| Prudential Public Limited Company (ADR) (NYSE:PUK) | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Manulife Financial Corporation (USA) (NYSE:MFC) | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU) | 30 | 1 | 6 |
With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and ING Groep N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:ING) applies perfectly to this mantra.
