Hedge Funds Can’t Buy Enough Of Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (EIGR)

The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We at Insider Monkey have plowed through 821 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, a week after the market trough. In this article we look at what those investors think of Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR).

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR) was in 27 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. EIGR investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 25 hedge funds in our database with EIGR positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that EIGR isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).

Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.

According to most shareholders, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, old financial tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation today, We choose to focus on the elite of this club, approximately 850 funds. These hedge fund managers direct the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by keeping track of their best stock picks, Insider Monkey has unearthed a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the market. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy defeated the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points per annum since its inception in March 2017. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 36% since February 2017 (through May 18th) even though the market was up 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 8 short targets in our latest quarterly update .

We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, we believe electric vehicles and energy storage are set to become giant markets, and we want to take advantage of the declining lithium prices amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So we are checking out investment opportunities like these. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. If you want to find out the best healthcare stock to buy right now, you can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind let’s take a look at the new hedge fund action encompassing Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR).

Hedge fund activity in Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR)

At Q1’s end, a total of 27 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 8% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 22 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in EIGR a year ago. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

Among these funds, 683 Capital Partners held the most valuable stake in Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR), which was worth $13.9 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Vivo Capital which amassed $12.2 million worth of shares. Citadel Investment Group, Cormorant Asset Management, and Mangrove Partners were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position P.A.W. CAPITAL PARTNERS allocated the biggest weight to Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR), around 3.3% of its 13F portfolio. Soleus Capital is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 3.21 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to EIGR.

As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR) headfirst. Suvretta Capital Management, managed by Aaron Cowen, assembled the biggest position in Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR). Suvretta Capital Management had $1.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Adam Usdan’s Trellus Management Company also initiated a $1.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Travis Cocke’s Voss Capital, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR). We will take a look at Mallinckrodt Public Limited Company (NYSE:MNK), BRT Realty Trust (NYSE:BRT), Oasis Midstream Partners LP (NASDAQ:OMP), and Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ:IMMR). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to EIGR’s market valuation.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 9.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $24 million. That figure was $65 million in EIGR’s case. Mallinckrodt Public Limited Company (NYSE:MNK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Oasis Midstream Partners LP (NASDAQ:OMP) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks returned 8.3% in 2020 through the end of May but still managed to beat the market by 13.2 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on EIGR as the stock returned 77.5% so far in Q2 (through the end of May) and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were clearly right about piling into this stock relative to other stocks with similar market capitalizations.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.