Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) has also put its weight behind Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) by including it in the top healthcare stock picks in America. Valeant is known for its aggressive, acquisition-driven growth strategy that targets matured products. Salix Pharmaceuticals and Bausch & Lomb are among its recent acquired companies. However, Barclays is expecting organic growth in Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) as well, with several promising drugs in its pipeline. It is important to note that the shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals have grown 55.65% in 2015. Valeant’s share price growth in 2015 has allowed activist investors like Jeffrey Ubben of ValueAct Capital to reap profits out of the stock. The investment manager filed a 13D with the SEC revealing a sale of 4.39 million shares of Valeant since its most recent 13F filing on March 31, 2015. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) was the ninth-most popular stock among hedge fund managers in our database, pulling in aggregate investments of $20.11 billion from 104 investment managers. Bill Ackman of Pershing Square was the largest shareholder of the pharmaceutical company among them, with his position containing 19.47 million shares with a robust market value of $3.87 billion.
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Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX) is another top healthcare stock pick of Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS), which could be quite surprising given the 4.58% decline in the share price of the healthcare company this year. However, Barclays has provided proper reasons for keeping Baxter in its list, starting with the fact that its new products are under-appreciated given their potential margin opportunity. The analyst has also considered the approved split-up of Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX) into separate medical product and biopharmaceutical companies. The split will complete on July 1, 2015 with two separate independent companies emerging at that time: Baxter International, trading on the NYSE with its regular ticker “BAX”, and Baxalta, trading under the “BXTL” ticker on the NYSE. Barclays has issued a price target of $80.00 on Baxter, indicating an upside of 14% from its current share price. Smart money has been bullish sentiment on Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX) recently, with 50 hedge fund managers in our database holding positions in the healthcare company with aggregate investments of $1.47 billion as of March 31, compared to just 35 funds with $782.39 million in holdings at the end of 2014. Richard S. Pzena is among the largest stockholders of Baxter International, with ownership of 5.03 million shares valued at $344.45 million.
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