Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Annovis Bio, Inc. (ANVS)

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 817 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 September 30th, about a month before the elections. In this article we look at what those investors think of Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS).

Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS) has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest of late. Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS) was in 3 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2020. The all time high for this statistics is 1. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. There were 1 hedge funds in our database with ANVS holdings at the end of June. Our calculations also showed that ANVS isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 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.

In the financial world there are plenty of tools market participants employ to appraise their holdings. A couple of the most underrated tools are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outpace the market by a superb amount (see the details here).

John Overdeck of Two Sigma

John Overdeck of Two Sigma Advisors

At Insider Monkey we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, Federal Reserve has been creating trillions of dollars electronically to keep the interest rates near zero. We believe this will lead to inflation and boost real estate prices. So, we recommended this real estate stock to our monthly premium newsletter subscribers. We go through lists like the 10 most profitable companies in the world to pick the best large-cap stocks to buy. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our website. Now we’re going to go over the recent hedge fund action encompassing Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS).

What does smart money think about Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS)?

At the end of September, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 200% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 0 hedge funds with a bullish position in ANVS a year ago. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

More specifically, Renaissance Technologies was the largest shareholder of Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS), with a stake worth $0.1 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Paloma Partners, which amassed a stake valued at $0.1 million. Two Sigma Advisors was 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 Paloma Partners allocated the biggest weight to Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS), around 0.0021% of its 13F portfolio. Two Sigma Advisors is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.0002 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to ANVS.

Consequently, key money managers have jumped into Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS) headfirst. Renaissance Technologies, founded by Jim Simons, initiated the most valuable position in Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS). Renaissance Technologies had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Donald Sussman’s Paloma Partners also made a $0.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS). We will take a look at SeaChange International (NASDAQ:SEAC), Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR), aTyr Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:LIFE), Amplify Energy Corp. (NYSE:AMPY), Monaker Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MKGI), Superior Industries International Inc. (NYSE:SUP), and Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPNT). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to ANVS’s market valuation.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
SEAC 8 606 -3
AEHR 3 1867 1
LIFE 6 6329 1
AMPY 12 12882 -6
MKGI 2 854 1
SUP 12 5105 -1
OPNT 3 2650 -1
Average 6.6 4328 -1.1

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 6.6 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $4 million. That figure was $0 million in ANVS’s case. Amplify Energy Corp. (NYSE:AMPY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Monaker Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MKGI) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE:ANVS) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for ANVS is 42. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.3% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10 percentage points. These stocks gained 28.1% in 2020 through November 23rd and still beat the market by 15.4 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on ANVS as the stock returned 11.9% since the end of the third quarter (through 11/23) and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.

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