With the first-quarter round of 13F filings behind us it is time to take a look at the stocks in which some of the best money managers in the world preferred to invest or sell heading into the second quarter. One of these stocks was Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR).
Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR) has seen a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. EIGR was in 21 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of June. There were 22 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 (see the video below).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
According to most traders, hedge funds are viewed as underperforming, old financial tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at present, Our researchers look at the bigwigs of this group, around 750 funds. These money managers watch over the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tailing their best equity investments, Insider Monkey has formulated a number of investment strategies that have historically surpassed the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s flagship hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points annually since its inception in May 2014. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 25.7% since February 2017 (through September 30th) even though the market was up more than 33% during the same period. We just shared a list of 10 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
In addition to following the biggest hedge funds for investment ideas, we also share stock pitches from conferences, investor letters and other sources like this one where the fund manager is talking about two under the radar 1000% return potential stocks: first one in internet infrastructure and the second in the heart of advertising market. We use hedge fund buy/sell signals to determine whether to conduct in-depth analysis of these stock ideas which take days. Let’s analyze the key hedge fund action encompassing Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR).
What have hedge funds been doing with Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR)?
Heading into the third quarter of 2019, a total of 21 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -5% from the first quarter of 2019. By comparison, 15 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in EIGR a year ago. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Adage Capital Management held the most valuable stake in Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR), which was worth $23.6 million at the end of the second quarter. On the second spot was 683 Capital Partners which amassed $19.5 million worth of shares. Moreover, Vivo Capital, Broadfin Capital, and Cormorant Asset Management were also bullish on Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Since Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR) has faced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there is a sect of money managers that elected to cut their entire stakes last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Peter Kolchinsky’s RA Capital Management sold off the biggest stake of the 750 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at about $33.8 million in stock. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also dumped its stock, about $3 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds last quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR). These stocks are Protective Insurance Corporation (NASDAQ:PTVCB), 22nd Century Group, Inc (NYSE:XXII), Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. (NYSE:XIN), and Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Company (NYSE:HBB). This group of stocks’ market caps match EIGR’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PTVCB | 5 | 21097 | -2 |
| XXII | 3 | 328 | 1 |
| XIN | 7 | 3605 | 0 |
| HBB | 1 | 1541 | -2 |
| Average | 4 | 6643 | -0.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 4 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $7 million. That figure was $149 million in EIGR’s case. Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. (NYSE:XIN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Company (NYSE:HBB) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 24.4% in 2019 through September 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 4 percentage points. Unfortunately EIGR wasn’t nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on EIGR were disappointed as the stock returned -3.3% during the third quarter and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds as many of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q3.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
