Is Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK) the right pick for your portfolio? Prominent investors are taking a bullish view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions improved by 1 in recent months.
According to most traders, hedge funds are seen as unimportant, old financial vehicles of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation today, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the masters of this club, around 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group has its hands on most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by paying attention to their top picks, we have determined a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (check out a sample of our picks).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).
Now, it’s important to take a look at the latest action encompassing Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK).
What have hedge funds been doing with Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 25% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds have jumped into Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK) headfirst. D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, initiated the most outsized call position in Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK). D E Shaw had 1.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management also made a $0.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new OZRK position is Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK) has experienced 5 unique insiders purchasing, and 9 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK). These stocks are EverBank Financial Corp (NYSE:EVER), F.N.B. Corp (NYSE:FNB), Trustmark Corp (NASDAQ:TRMK), IBERIABANK Corporation (NASDAQ:IBKC), and BancorpSouth, Inc. (NYSE:BXS). This group of stocks are the members of the regional – southeast banks industry and their market caps are similar to OZRK’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| EverBank Financial Corp (NYSE:EVER) | 10 | 0 | 11 |
| F.N.B. Corp (NYSE:FNB) | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Trustmark Corp (NASDAQ:TRMK) | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| IBERIABANK Corporation (NASDAQ:IBKC) | 9 | 1 | 3 |
| BancorpSouth, Inc. (NYSE:BXS) | 12 | 1 | 2 |
With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ:OZRK) is no exception.
