Hedge Funds Are Dumping Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OPTR)

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTR) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. OPTR investors should be aware of a decrease in hedge fund interest lately. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with OPTR holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTR)If you’d ask most market participants, hedge funds are seen as underperforming, old financial vehicles of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at the moment, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the bigwigs of this club, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their best picks, we have formulated a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the market. 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 started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).

Just as key, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. There are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a glance at the latest action encompassing Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTR).

How are hedge funds trading Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTR)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -8% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, James E. Flynn’s Deerfield Management had the biggest position in Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTR), worth close to $18.4 million, accounting for 1.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Deerfield Management’s heels is Daniel Gold of QVT Financial, with a $14.6 million position; 1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Jeremy Green’s Redmile Group, Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

Judging by the fact that Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTR) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few hedge funds who were dropping their full holdings heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Jerome Pfund and Michael Sjostrom’s Sectoral Asset Management cut the biggest stake of all the hedgies we watch, valued at an estimated $5.4 million in stock., and Malcolm Fairbairn of Ascend Capital was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.4 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds heading into Q2.

How are insiders trading Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTR)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTR) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results exhibited by our research, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTR) is no exception.

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