Why These 5 Stocks Are Moving On High Volume Today

At Insider Monkey, we track around 765 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on, can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see the details here).

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Synergy Retreats on Update 

Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SGYP) shares have retreated by 6.7% in morning trading after the biotech issued an update on the ongoing FDA review of the company’s lead product candidate plecanatide for the potential treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation, as well as on the company’s IBS-C clinical development program. According to CEO Gary S. Jacob, Synergy has reached the FDA mid-cycle review milestone and is optimistic about the potential approval of plecanatide for the treatment of CIC by the PDUFA date of January 29, 2017. The company has also decided to continue patient enrollment for two ongoing phase III clinical trials for plecanatide for the potential treatment of IBS-C. Some traders could be selling due to the slower enrollment pace. Synergy remains hopeful that it will file an NDA for plecanatide for the treatment of IBS-C in the first quarter of 2017. Of the 766 active funds that we track, 21 collectively owned $73.66 million worth of Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SGYP) shares on March 31, which accounted for 23.50% of the float.

PNC Reports Mixed Results

PNC Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE:PNC) is slightly in the green this morning after the bank reported earnings of $1.82 per share on revenue of $3.79 billion for the second quarter. The results beat analysts’ bottom-line estimate by $0.07 per share but missed the top-line consensus by $20 million. Net interest income rose by 1% year-over-year while NIM inched lower by 3.0 basis points to 2.7%. PNC’s book value rose to $85.33 per share from $79.64 per share year-over-year. Cliff Asness‘ AQR Capital Management reported holding a stake of more than 4.5 million shares in PNC Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE:PNC) as of the end of March.

On the next page we’ll find out why US Bancorp, QUALCOMM, and Yahoo are generating buzz this morning.

U.S. Bancorp Beats 

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) shares have inched up by 1.77% after the bank turned in better than expected results for the second quarter. For the period, U.S. Bancorp earned $0.83 per share on sales of $5.45 billion, beating the consensus estimates by $0.03 per share and $260 million respectively. Revenue rose by 8.1% year-over-year, led by average loan growth of 8.1% and average deposit growth of 7.6%. The company turned in an excellent efficiency ratio of 54.9% and management returned 77% of second quarter earnings to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) makes up around 2.6% of the equity portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company led by billionaire Warren Buffett.

Downgrade of QUALCOMM

Analysts at BMO Capital Markets downgraded QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ yesterday, and not surprisingly, shares of the mobile chip maker are 0.4% in the red today. The analysts have a $50 price target on Qualcomm, suggesting downside potential of nearly 10%, citing several potential negative catalysts on the horizon, including the expected shrinkage of the company’s licensing revenue going forward. 59 funds in our database were bullish on QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) as of March 31, owning 5.8% of the company’s shares in aggregate.

Yahoo! Bidding Nearing an End

Traders are watching Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) today after the New York Times reported that bidding for the company’s internet assets could wrap up next Monday. Once the final bids are in, Yahoo’s Board of Directors will decide which offer is the best for shareholders. The sale of Yahoo’s internet assets will help narrow the tech company’s conglomerate discount and could potentially send its stock price higher. According to our records, 97 elite funds were long Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) as of the end of the first quarter, a jump of 13 funds from the end of the previous quarter.

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