Is Oritani Financial Corp. (ORIT) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Is Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT) going to take off soon? The smart money is in an optimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund bets rose by 3 in recent months.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of indicators shareholders can use to track their holdings. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can beat the market by a superb margin (see just how much).

Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of motivations for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action surrounding Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT).

Hedge fund activity in Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT)

At Q1’s end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 43% from the first 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 holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the biggest position in Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT). Citadel Investment Group has a $11.2 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $10.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Joseph A. Jolson’s Harvest Capital Strategies and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Now, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Clough Capital Partners, managed by Charles Clough, established the most valuable position in Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT). Clough Capital Partners had 0.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $0.5 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.

How have insiders been trading Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT). These stocks are Boston Private Financial Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:BPFH), NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB), Northfield Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:NFBK), and Independent Bank Corp (NASDAQ:INDB). This group of stocks belong to the regional – northeast banks industry and their market caps match ORIT’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by our strategies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Oritani Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ORIT) is an important part of this process.

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