Umpqua Holdings Corp (UMPQ): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

What’s a smart Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ) investor to do?

To many market players, hedge funds are seen as bloated, outdated investment tools of a forgotten age. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds with their doors open currently, Insider Monkey looks at the crème de la crème of this club, about 525 funds. It is widely held that this group controls the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by keeping an eye on their best equity investments, we’ve come up with a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we‘ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Just as necessary, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. There are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Furthermore, let’s examine the newest info about Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ).

What does the smart money think about Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 86% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.

According to our 13F database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the most valuable position in Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ), worth close to $24.1 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is David Dreman of Dreman Value Management, with a $10 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Now, certain money managers have jumped into Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ) headfirst. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, created the largest position in Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ). Royce & Associates had 24.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management also made a $10 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new UMPQ positions are Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

How are insiders trading Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ). These stocks are CVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:CVBF), Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL), WestAmerica Bancorp. (NASDAQ:WABC), Glacier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GBCI), and Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY). This group of stocks are in the regional – pacific banks industry and their market caps match UMPQ’s market cap.

Using the returns explained by Insider Monkey’s strategies, regular investors should always track hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Umpqua Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UMPQ) is an important part of this process.

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