Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) has seen a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.
To most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be worthless, outdated financial tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds trading today, we at Insider Monkey look at the elite of this group, around 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group controls most of the smart money’s total capital, and by paying attention to their best picks, we have uncovered a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum 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 topped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (explore the details and some picks here).
Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the marketplace. There are a number of incentives for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if investors understand where to look (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action surrounding Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB).
How are hedge funds trading Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 30 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -6% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the largest position in Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB), worth close to $311.7 million, accounting for 0.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global, with a $247.9 million position; the fund has 1.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors, Jerome Pfund and Michael Sjostrom’s Sectoral Asset Management and Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors.
Since Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) has witnessed a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few funds that elected to cut their full holdings last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s Healthcor Management LP cut the biggest stake of all the hedgies we key on, comprising an estimated $22 million in call options. Dmitry Balyasny’s fund, Balyasny Asset Management, also dumped its call options., about $3 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds last quarter.
How are insiders trading Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)?
Insider buying is particularly usable when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 9 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB). These stocks are Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN), Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN), Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), and Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG). This group of stocks are in the biotechnology industry and their market caps resemble BIIB’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) | 22 | 0 | 18 |
| Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) | 31 | 0 | 8 |
| Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) | 36 | 0 | 10 |
| Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) | 63 | 1 | 4 |
| Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) | 44 | 1 | 2 |
With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned tactics, retail investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) is no exception.
