What Hedge Funds Think About Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (OXFD)

At Insider Monkey we follow around 730 of the best-performing investors and even though many of them lost money in the last several months, the history teaches us that over the long-run they still manage to beat the market, which is why it can be profitable for us to imitate their activity. Of course, even the best money managers can sometimes get it wrong, but following some of their picks gives us a better chance to outperform the crowd than picking a random stock and this is where our research comes in.

Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (NASDAQ:OXFD)’s stock has been very volatile this year and has declined by more than 10% year-to-date. Nevertheless, we decided to take a closer look at the smart money investors that are backing the company. Moreover, at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Triumph Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:TBK), Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:BSET), and Trecora Resources (NYSE:TREC) to gather more data points.

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In the financial world, there are a multitude of methods shareholders use to grade stocks. A pair of the less known methods are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see the details here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the key action surrounding Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (NASDAQ:OXFD).

How are hedge funds trading Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (NASDAQ:OXFD)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, Among these funds, Redmile Group, managed by Jeremy Green, holds the number one position in Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (NASDAQ:OXFD). Redmile Group has a $298.8 million stake in the company, comprising 6.9% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund is Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital, with a $14.2 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. The remaining hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions encompass Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group, James E. Flynn’s Deerfield Management, and Justin John Ferayorni’s Tamarack Capital Management.

We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: Citadel Investment Group. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn’t always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don’t think this is the case in this case, because only one of the 700+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock (that fund was Birchview Capital).

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (NASDAQ:OXFD) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Triumph Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:TBK), Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:BSET), Trecora Resources (NYSE:TREC), and AV Homes Inc (NASDAQ:AVHI). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to OXFD’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
TBK 9 36898 5
BSET 10 45306 -1
TREC 7 10592 1
AVHI 9 33810 0

As you can see these stocks had an average of 9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $32 million. That figure was $63 million in OXFD’s case. Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:BSET) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Trecora Resources (NYSE:TREC) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (NASDAQ:OXFD) registers an average level of interest from the funds we track, when compared to some of its market cap peers. This may be a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard BSET might be a better candidate to consider a long position.