Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Celgene Corporation (CELG)?

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) was in 44 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. CELG investors should be aware of a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late. There were 45 hedge funds in our database with CELG positions at the end of the previous quarter.

To the average investor, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to track publicly traded companies. Two of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the market by a superb margin (see just how much).

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG)Just as key, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a gander at the latest action regarding Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG).

What have hedge funds been doing with Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 44 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -2% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the biggest position in Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG). Renaissance Technologies has a $286.4 million position in the stock, comprising 0.7% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, which held a $152.3 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors, Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Capital Management and Jerome Pfund and Michael Sjostrom’s Sectoral Asset Management.

Judging by the fact that Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) has experienced a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there is a sect of fund managers that slashed their entire stakes heading into Q2. Intriguingly, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management cut the biggest position of the 450+ funds we monitor, valued at an estimated $28.4 million in stock.. James E. Flynn’s fund, Deerfield Management, also dropped its stock, about $22.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into Q2.

Insider trading activity in Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG)

Bullish insider trading is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG). These stocks are Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN), Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN), Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), and Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB). This group of stocks are in the biotechnology industry and their market caps resemble CELG’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) 22 0 18
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) 31 0 8
Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) 36 0 10
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) 63 1 4
Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) 30 0 9

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned research, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) is an important part of this process.

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