Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (PCRX)

Is Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX) a superb investment right now? Hedge funds are in an optimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund positions inched up by 1 lately.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of indicators market participants can use to watch the equity markets. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of stimuli for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if you know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action encompassing Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX).

Hedge fund activity in Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX)

At Q1’s end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

Of the funds we track, Visium Asset Management, managed by Jacob Gottlieb, holds the most valuable position in Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX). Visium Asset Management has a $51.9 million position in the stock, comprising 1.3% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is OrbiMed Advisors, managed by Samuel Isaly, which held a $28 million position; the fund has 0.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital and Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Polar Capital, managed by Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley, initiated the largest position in Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX). Polar Capital had 8.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital also made a $5.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Daniel Arbess’s Xerion.

How are insiders trading Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX)?

Insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 13 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PCRX). These stocks are Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL), Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ICPT), Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEGR), Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX), and Impax Laboratories Inc (NASDAQ:IPXL). This group of stocks are the members of the drug manufacturers – major industry and their market caps resemble PCRX’s market cap.