Are Hedge Funds Losing Interest In Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB)?

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Is Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) a good stock to buy right now? We at Insider Monkey like to examine what billionaires and hedge funds think of a company before doing days of research on it. Given their 2 and 20 payment structure, hedge funds have more resources than the average investor. The funds have access to expert networks and get tips from industry insiders. They also have numerous Ivy League graduates and MBAs. Like everyone else, hedge funds perform miserably at times, but their consensus picks have historically outperformed the market after risk adjustments.

So, is Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) a great investment today? Our calculations show that prominent investors are getting less optimistic. The number of long hedge fund bets shrunk by 3 recently. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), NTT Docomo Inc (ADR) (NYSE:DCM), and Westpac Banking Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:WBK) to gather more data points.

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Hedge fund activity in Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

At Q3’s end, a total of 60 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -5% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, OrbiMed Advisors, managed by Samuel Isaly, holds the largest position in Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB). OrbiMed Advisors has a $381.5 million position in the stock, comprising 3.9% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is AQR Capital Management, led by Cliff Asness, holding a $286 million position; 0.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism include Robert Pitts’ Steadfast Capital Management, Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management and Jerome Pfund and Michael Sjostrom’s Sectoral Asset Management.

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