Most Popular Healthcare Stocks Under $5

#3. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX)

 – Investors with long positions (as of March 31): 18

 – Aggregate value of investors’ holdings (as of March 31): $73.02 Million

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) received some love during the first quarter from the elite segment of the hedge fund industry monitored by Insider Monkey, as the number of funds in our system with stakes in BioCryst rose to 18 from 15 during the March quarter. Nevertheless, the aggregate value of those stakes plummeted to $73.02 million from $239.89 million, though the 18 asset managers still held 35% of the company’s outstanding shares. The shares of the biotechnology company developing small molecule drugs that block key enzymes involved in the pathogenesis of diseases are 66% in the red year-to-date, mainly owing to disastrous results from the company’s OPuS-2 trial of orally-administered avoralstat for the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks. On the other hand, BioCryst revealed in early March that its experimental antiviral drug BCX4430 improved survival rates in mice infected with Zika virus in a preclinical study. Baker Bros. Advisors, run by Julian Baker and Felix Baker, upped its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) by 6% during the first quarter, to 15.01 million shares.

#2. Array Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRY)

 – Investors with long positions (as of March 31): 20

 – Aggregate value of investors’ holdings (as of March 31): $187.58 Million

Array Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRY) somewhat fell out of favor with the hedge funds tracked by our team in the first quarter, with the number of money managers invested in the company dropping to 20 from 23 quarter-over-quarter. Correspondingly, the aggregate value of those money managers’ equity investments in Array Biopharma fell to $187.58 million from $265.03 million, though those 20 investment firms with positions in Array still hoarded 44% of the company’s shares. In early April, the biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of targeted small molecule drugs for the treatment of various forms of cancer announced its decision to abandon a Phase 3 trial of binimetinib for the treatment of patients suffering ovarian cancer, after an interim analysis revealed that the trial would fail. Binimetinib, which is also being studied as a possible treatment for patients afflicted with skin cancer, is one of three cancer drugs currently being studied and developed by Array Biopharma. Array shares are 8% in the red year-to-date. Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors reported owning 10.69 million shares of Array Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRY) in its latest 13F filing.

#1. Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SGYP)

 – Investors with long positions (as of March 31): 21

 – Aggregate value of investors’ holdings (as of March 31): $73.66 Million

The smart money sentiment towards Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SGYP) declined during the first three months of 2016, as the number of funds invested in the company fell to 21 from 24 quarter-over-quarter, while the value of those funds’ equity investments in Synergy shrank to $73.66 million from $143.82 million, mainly owing to a 51% decline in the share price of the company’s stock during the quarter. Approximately 24% of Synergy’s outstanding shares resided in the equity portfolios of the 21 asset managers in our database which were long the stock. The biopharmaceutical company’s drug candidate plecanatide is under FDA review as a possible treatment for chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC), after the company filed its first new drug application (NDA) in late January. While the FDA’s decision is anticipated to be announced in late January 2017, Synergy Pharmaceuticals anticipates filing its second NDA for plecanatide, for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C), by the end of 2016. Steven Boyd’s Armistice Capital acquired a new stake of 2.20 million shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SGYP) during the first quarter of 2016.

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