Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KYTH) was in 10 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. KYTH investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with KYTH positions at the end of the previous quarter.
To most investors, hedge funds are perceived as worthless, outdated investment tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at the moment, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the upper echelon of this group, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group has its hands on the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing equity investments, we have unsheathed a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outpaced the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).
Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are lots of stimuli for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action encompassing Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KYTH).
How have hedgies been trading Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KYTH)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Christopher Medlock James’s Partner Fund Management had the most valuable position in Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KYTH), worth close to $14.2 million, accounting for 0.5% of its total 13F portfolio. On Partner Fund Management’s heels is Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson of Adage Capital Management, with a $10.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Sean Cullinan’s Point State Capital, Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital and Julian Baker and Felix Baker’s Baker Bros. Advisors.
Now, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, established the most valuable position in Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KYTH). Driehaus Capital had 0.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners also made a $0.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KYTH)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KYTH) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KYTH). These stocks are Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ICPT), Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL), Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KERX), Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTX), and Endocyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECYT). All of these stocks are in the drug manufacturers – major industry and their market caps are closest to KYTH’s market cap.
