Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS) investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months.
Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, let’s take a gander at the latest action surrounding Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS).
How are hedge funds trading Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -6% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management had the biggest position in Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS), worth close to $49.6 million, accounting for 1.3% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $44.2 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Kevin Kotler’s Broadfin Capital, Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.
Due to the fact that Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes last quarter. Intriguingly, SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management cut the largest investment of all the hedgies we monitor, worth close to $3.8 million in stock., and D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $2.6 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds last quarter.
How have insiders been trading Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 14 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS). These stocks are MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD), PDL BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ:PDLI), Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT), Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:LXRX), and VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS). All of these stocks are in the biotechnology industry and their market caps are closest to SNTS’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| PDL BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ:PDLI) | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) | 19 | 0 | 1 |
| Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:LXRX) | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) | 21 | 0 | 0 |
With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS) is an important part of this process.
