Before we spend days researching a stock idea we’d like to take a look at how hedge funds and billionaire investors recently traded that stock. S&P 500 Index returned about 5.2% during the last 12 months ending October 30th. Less than 49% of the stocks in the index outperformed the index. This means you (or a monkey throwing a dart) have less than an even chance of beating the market by randomly picking a stock. On the other hand, the top 30 S&P 500 stocks among hedge funds at the end of September 2014 had an average return of 9.5% during the same period. Sixty three percent of these 30 stocks outperformed the market. Hedge funds had bad stock picks like everyone else. Micron, which lost 50% over this period, was one of hedge funds’ 30 favorite S&P 500 stocks. Anadarko Petroleum was another failed stock pick which lost more than 26%. So, taking cues from hedge funds isn’t a foolproof strategy, but it seems to work on average. In this article, we will take a look at what hedge funds think about Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC).
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Is Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC) worth your attention right now? Our calculations showed that hedge funds are reducing their bets on the stock. The number of long hedge fund bets retreated by 1 in recent months. At the end of this article, we will also compare Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC) to other stocks including MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG), Triangle Capital Corporation (NYSE:TCAP), and Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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How are hedge funds trading Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish in this stock, a drop of 11% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, Matthew Lindenbaum’s Basswood Capital had the biggest position in Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC), worth close to $11.4 million, accounting for 0.6% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish hedge fund manager is Renaissance Technologies, founded by math genius Jim Simons, holding a $10.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining members of the smart money that hold long positions contain Paul Hondros’ AlphaOne Capital Partners, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital and Bernard Horn’s Polaris Capital Management.
Due to the fact that Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC) has witnessed a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of fund managers who were dropping their full holdings last quarter. Interestingly, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management said goodbye to the biggest investment of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $1.4 million in stock, and quant hedge fund D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0.4 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds last quarter.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC). These stocks are MYR Group Inc (NASDAQ:MYRG), Triangle Capital Corporation (NYSE:TCAP), Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY), and PC Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCCC). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC)’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| MYRG | 14 | 79816 | -2 |
| TCAP | 6 | 7140 | 1 |
| MRCY | 18 | 125643 | 4 |
| PCCC | 8 | 58525 | 0 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $68 million. Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Triangle Capital Corporation (NYSE:TCAP) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:BMTC) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard Triangle Capital Corporation (NYSE:TCAP) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
