Heartland Advisors, an investment management company, released its “Heartland Value Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund was down 3.21% during the quarter compared to the Russell 2000 Value Index’s 3.64% loss. Stock selection was mixed during the period. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2024.
Heartland Value Fund highlighted stocks like Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) is a bank holding company for Seacoast National Bank that provides integrated financial services to retail and commercial customers. The one-month return of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) was 12.71%, and its shares gained 7.00% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 12, 2024, Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) stock closed at $25.54 per share with a market capitalization of $2.169 billion.
Heartland Value Fund stated the following regarding Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Another area where we are underweight is banks, but we don’t just want to add holdings in that industry to check a box. The goal is to find well-run institutions in good regions with solid population growth. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF).
SBCF, which provides commercial and consumer banking, wealth management, and mortgage services across Florida, has been on our watch list for some time. Investors, concerned about Seacoast’s profitability, have pushed the share price down more than 17% year to date. But we believe the bank’s net interest margin is poised to rebound in the second half of this year. Meanwhile, management has been aggressively reducing costs by closing redundant branches at the same time it has been adding bankers. If loan demand picks up even modestly, the combination should result in decent operating leverage.
An added benefit: Seacoast could be a takeout target, as it is one of the few remaining pure-play regional banks in Florida, one of the highest growth regions for financial services. Yet the stock trades at just 1.5 times tangible book value, which is one standard deviation below its 10-year average multiple.”
A financial advisor leading a client meeting, explaining different investment options in detail.
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 11 hedge fund portfolios held Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) at the end of the first quarter which was 8 in the previous quarter. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) produced a net income of $0.31 per share during the first quarter; on an adjusted basis, the net income was $0.37 per share. While we acknowledge the potential of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
