Hedge Funds Are Dumping ABIOMED, Inc. (ABMD)

Page 1 of 2

ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD) has experienced a decrease in hedge fund interest of late.

ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD)In the financial world, there are dozens of gauges investors can use to analyze Mr. Market. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can trounce the broader indices by a solid margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of reasons for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the key action regarding ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD).

Hedge fund activity in ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD)

Heading into Q2, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -33% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Palo Alto Investors, managed by William Leland Edwards, holds the largest position in ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD). Palo Alto Investors has a $43.9 million position in the stock, comprising 5.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is CR Intrinsic Investors, managed by SAC Subsidiary, which held a $14.9 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

Because ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD) has witnessed falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there were a few fund managers that slashed their entire stakes last quarter. Interestingly, Kevin Kotler’s Broadfin Capital dumped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, comprising about $5.4 million in stock., and Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $3.1 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds last quarter.

How are insiders trading ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD). These stocks are NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUVA), The Spectranetics Corporation (NASDAQ:SPNC), NxStage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTM), Orthofix International NV (NASDAQ:OFIX), and Greatbatch Inc (NYSE:GB). This group of stocks are the members of the medical appliances & equipment industry and their market caps resemble ABMD’s market cap.

Page 1 of 2