Lawrence Seidman released his quarterly 13F filing with the SEC today which highlighted a number of stocks he's buying and selling. Although Seidman is not a household name, it's worth taking a closer look at his recent activity considering he has more than $130 million invested specifically in financial institutions.
Lawrence Seidman's Largest Holdings
Lawrence Bruce Seidman is the Manager and President of various investment vehicles, principally involved in the purchase and sale of publicly traded bank and thrift stocks. He currently sits on the board of MSB Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: MSBF).
On February 8th, Mr. Seidman filed his quarterly Form 13F regulatory filing. I reviewed the 13F filing and analyzed his equity holdings which are 100% weighted in the financial sector. Mr. Seidman's stock portfolio totals $130.9 million according to the latest filing.
The Ideas section of finbox.io tracks top investors and trending investment themes. You can get the latest data on the holdings discussed below at the Lawrence Bruce Seidman page. The following table summarizes his firm's largest holdings reported in the last filing:
| Ticker | Name | Holding ($mil) | % Of Portfolio |
|---|---|---|---|
| PBIP | Prudential Bancorp Inc | $14.8 | 11.2% |
| MSBF | MSB Financial Corp. | $13.7 | 10.4% |
| FBNC | First Bancorp | $12.8 | 9.8% |
| MLVF | Malvern Bancorp, Inc. | $11.9 | 9.1% |
| SIFI | SI Financial Group, Inc. | $8.5 | 6.5% |
| SBBX | Sussex Bancorp | $8.1 | 6.2% |
| KRNY | Kearny Financial | $8.1 | 6.2% |
The seven positions above represent 59.3% of the hedge fund's total portfolio.
Lawrence Seidman's 6 Largest Purchases
I also used finbox.io to find Lawrence Seidman's largest buys last quarter. Here's the list of the biggest stock purchases determined by comparing the last two filings:
| Ticker | Name | Purchased ($mil) | % Of Portfolio |
|---|---|---|---|
| FBNC | First Bancorp | $12.8 | 9.8% |
| CWAY | Coastway Bancorp, Inc. | $2.3 | 3.7% |
| LBC | Luther Burbank Corp | $0.6 | 0.5% |
| FSBC | FSB Bancorp, Inc. | $0.6 | 1.7% |
| RNDB | Randolph Bancorp, Inc. | $0.2 | 0.9% |
| HVBC | HV Bancorp Inc | $0.1 | 2.2% |
Lawrence Seidman's 5 Biggest Sells
Here's the list of biggest position reductions determined by comparing the last two filings:
| Ticker | Name | Sold ($mil) | % Of Portfolio |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASBB | ASB Bancorp, Inc. | $11.4 | 0.0% |
| WSBF | Waterstone Financial, Inc. | $8.3 | 5.8% |
| BHBK | Blue Hills Bancorp, Inc. | $4.6 | 0.4% |
| WBB | Westbury Bancorp Inc | $1.6 | 0.0% |
| BWFG | Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. | $0.9 | 2.8% |
Lawrence Seidman's 7 Bullish Analyst Targets
Banks and brokerages often release 12 to 18 month price targets for the stocks they cover. Analyst upgrades and downgrades alone can often impact a company's stock price.
"In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine." - Benjamin Graham
The table below ranks stocks in Lawrence Seidman's portfolio with most bullish analyst targets:
| Ticker | Name | Upside (Analyst Target) | % Of Portfolio |
|---|---|---|---|
| BHBK | Blue Hills Bancorp, Inc. | 26.4% | 0.4% |
| WSBF | Waterstone Financial, Inc. | 24.6% | 5.8% |
| BWFG | Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. | 23.4% | 2.8% |
| CSBK | Clifton Bancorp Inc. | 18.6% | 4.1% |
| PBIP | Prudential Bancorp Inc | 17.3% | 11.2% |
| MSBF | MSB Financial Corp. | 15.3% | 10.4% |
| MLVF | Malvern Bancorp, Inc. | 13.3% | 9.1% |
Managers with more than $100 million in qualifying assets under management are required to disclose their holdings to the SEC each quarter via 13F filings. Qualifying assets include long positions in U.S. equities and ADRs, call/put options, and convertible debt securities. Shorts, cash positions, foreign investments and other assets are not included. It is important to note that these filings are due 45 days after the quarter end date. Therefore, Lawrence Seidman's holdings above represent positions held as of December 31st and not necessarily reflective of his current stock holdings.
However, most can agree that with thousands of stocks traded on U.S. exchanges, doing thorough research on each one is nearly impossible for smaller investors. Leveraging the resources of the largest hedge funds on Wall Street can be a powerful way to narrow down the list.
Author: Matt Hogan
Expertise: Valuation, financial statement analysis
Matt Hogan is a co-founder of finbox.io. His expertise is in investment decision making. Prior to finbox.io, Matt worked for an investment banking group providing fairness opinions in connection to stock acquisitions. He spent much of his time building valuation models to help clients determine an asset’s fair value. He believes that these same valuation models should be used by all investors before buying or selling a stock.
His work is frequently published at InvestorPlace, Benzinga, ValueWalk, AAII, Barron's, Seeking Alpha and investing.com.
Matt can be reached at [email protected].
As of this writing, I did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities and this is not a buy or sell recommendation on any security mentioned.
