Is Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV) ready to raly soon? The smart money is taking an optimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions inched up by 2 recently.
At the moment, there are dozens of methods shareholders can use to watch publicly traded companies. A pair 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 top picks of the elite investment managers can beat the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see just how much).
Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).
Now, we’re going to take a glance at the latest action encompassing Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV).
Hedge fund activity in Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV)
In preparation for this year, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 67% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
According to our comprehensive database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the largest position in Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV), worth close to $3.1 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Wexford Capital, managed by Charles Davidson, which held a $1.1 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
As one would reasonably expect, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Wexford Capital, managed by Charles Davidson, established the biggest position in Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV). Wexford Capital had 1.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also initiated a $0.6 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Insider trading activity in Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV)
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV) has experienced 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 Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV). These stocks are Enterprise Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ:EBTC), NASB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:NASB), First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas Inc (NASDAQ:FFBH), BankFinancial Corporation (NASDAQ:BFIN), and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOME). All of these stocks are in the savings & loans industry and their market caps are closest to PROV’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Enterprise Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ:EBTC) | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| NASB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:NASB) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas Inc (NASDAQ:FFBH) | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| BankFinancial Corporation (NASDAQ:BFIN) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOME) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s tactics, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV) is an important part of this process.
