Hedge Funds Are Selling Vical Incorporated (VICL)

We at Insider Monkey have gone over 700 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the government. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30. In this article we look at what those investors think of Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL).

Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. VICL has experienced a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with VICL holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare VICL to other stocks including Intersections Inc. (NASDAQ:INTX), Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK), and Cinedigm Corp (NASDAQ:CIDM) to get a better sense of its popularity.

In the financial world there are a multitude of gauges stock market investors employ to value publicly traded companies. Two of the best gauges are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see the details here).

Now, let’s take a look at the fresh action regarding Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL).

What does the smart money think about Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -25% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Peter Kolchinsky’s RA Capital Management has the biggest position in Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL), worth close to $1 million, corresponding to 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On RA Capital Management’s heels is Renaissance Technologies, led by Jim Simons, holding a $0.5 million position; less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism comprise John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management and Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management.

Judging by the fact that Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers who were dropping their positions entirely heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Kris Jenner, Gordon Bussard, Graham McPhail’s Rock Springs Capital Management dumped the largest position of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $1.3 million in call options. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also dumped its call options, about $0.1 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL). We will take a look at Intersections Inc. (NASDAQ:INTX), Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK), Cinedigm Corp (NASDAQ:CIDM), and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEMKT:NAK). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to VICL’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 6 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $5 million. That figure was $5 million in VICL’s case. Cinedigm Corp (NASDAQ:CIDM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (USA) (NYSEMKT:NAK) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CIDM might be a better candidate to consider a long position.