Should You Buy Pacific Biosciences of California (PACB)?

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To the average investor, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to analyze Mr. Market. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outclass the market by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Just as necessary, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the financial markets. There are plenty of reasons for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB)

Now that that’s out of the way, we’re going to analyze the newest info surrounding Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB).

What does the smart money think about Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 29% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, James E. Flynn’s Deerfield Management had the biggest position in Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB), worth close to $12.4 million, accounting for 0.6% of its total 13F portfolio. On Deerfield Management’s heels is Lee Ainslie of Maverick Capital, with a $8.9 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Jeremy Green’s Redmile Group, Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

As industrywide interest increased, particular hedge funds have jumped into Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) headfirst. Deerfield Management, managed by James E. Flynn, established the largest position in Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB). Deerfield Management had 12.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital also initiated a $8.9 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new PACB investors: Jeremy Green’s Redmile Group, Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Insider trading activity in Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB)

Insider buying made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB). These stocks are ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP), Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHTP), Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN), ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Ltd (NYSEAMEX:IMUC), and Targacept , Inc. (NASDAQ:TRGT). This group of stocks belong to the biotechnology industry and their market caps resemble PACB’s market cap.

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