Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About PAREXEL International Corporation (PRXL) Anymore

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PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ:PRXL) was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. PRXL shareholders have witnessed a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 20 hedge funds in our database with PRXL holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

According to most stock holders, hedge funds are viewed as worthless, outdated financial tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, we look at the aristocrats of this group, close to 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group controls the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by monitoring their top equity investments, we have found a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a 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 outclassed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (check out a sample of our picks).

Just as important, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if you know what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a glance at the key action surrounding PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ:PRXL).

Hedge fund activity in PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ:PRXL)

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -40% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ:PRXL)When looking at the hedgies we track, Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, holds the most valuable position in PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ:PRXL). Fisher Asset Management has a $104.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which held a $23.8 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors.

Since PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ:PRXL) has faced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of funds who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Andrew Sandler’s Sandler Capital Management sold off the largest position of all the hedgies we watch, worth about $6 million in stock.. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also sold off its stock, about $5.9 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 8 funds heading into Q2.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ:PRXL)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ:PRXL) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 14 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ:PRXL). These stocks are Covance Inc. (NYSE:CVD), PerkinElmer, Inc. (NYSE:PKI), ICON plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:ICLR), Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRWD), and Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR). This group of stocks are in the medical laboratories & research industry and their market caps are similar to PRXL’s market cap.

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